Let's Play Pretend!
by S.A.Hikari
Summary: Tsunade has just passed a law that requires all ninja of 19 to marry. A rebelion of our favorite ninja have run away,but now they are running out of food. They devised a plan to get back in konoha: pretend to elope!
1. Chapter 1

Hello Everyone

Hello Everyone! It's me again, S.A.Hikari, and tonight I was feeling like I needed some loving' so I started to type this up. I'm not so sure if I'll continue it, 'cause it was kinda random and I was tired of finding yaoi stories when I only wanted sasusaku, so anyway, enjoy!

I don't own Naruto!

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"Tsunade started to get kinda crazy right after her 60th birthday. Her new laws baffled everyone and made even Rock Lee seem sane, sorry 'bout that Lee.

All ninja must be married by age 19.

All ninja must have a non-ninja counselor.

They must visit that counselor at least once a week.

Parents of ninja who are not moved out by age 18 may pass betrothals to them."

I looked to Kiba. He didn't look so hot; he had Miho cuddled next to him. In fact, no one looked warm at all.

Naruto commented on my story. "Oh man, I know. My birthday was just last week, and Tsunade threatened to throw me in jail, just because I refused to get married."

Sasuke began. "We all have similar stories like that Naruto." He said. Since his return, he's been neglected, outclassed, and refused, but this was a first. His eyes lowered to the moist grass. "Oh man, I wish this had never happened, and then I wouldn't have to leave Konoha yet once more." His voice solemn, and at the mention of his leave, I felt tears behind my eyes, but I promised myself I wouldn't cry, not again.

"At least you're with us this time, right?" I tried to cheer him up; taking a responsibility that was desperately difficult. No one I knew considered making Sasuke happy an easy job.

Our party consisted of almost our entire generation. There was me, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba, his girlfriend Miho, Hinata, Neji, and Tenten. Shino had given up; rather, he married his counselor. Rock Lee didn't care much about whom he ended up marrying, as long as he did it; it was fine in his book. So they were back in the village, calling up the search party for the missing ninja along with their wives and the rest of ridiculous Konoha.

Neji grabbed his fire stick and poked the campfire to try and get the flames to start up again. They were getting dangerously low and it wasn't getting any warmer.

I recalled when this fiasco first appeared.

_Flashback_

_My job at the hospital is an easy one, as long as I have Lady Tsunade to assist me. One day as I was walking towards my job, I noticed something on the Konoha Bulletin board. "By order of Lady Hokage, four new laws will be put into effect…immediately." _

_I shuddered in horror as I scrolled my eyes down the decree, my mouth finally falling in unbelieving shock, as I saw the conclusion. "Any objections will be confronted directly by the Hokage herself, and, depending on the situation, may be thrown in jail. _

_Signed, Shizune."_

_I panicked. Something horrible was going to occur, I just knew it. So, instead of heading to my job, I sprinted to Sasuke's house. _

"_Yes, what do you want, oh, Sakura, what's up?" He had opened the door only partly, afraid of the possibility it was just another villager who decided he needed a scapegoat, as Sasuke was now constantly called, but once he discovered it was only me, he opened it fully. _

"_It's terrible! We'll have to leave town! Get your stuff, and for goodness sakes be quiet, we __**don't**__ want to get caught!" _

"_Slow Down. Come inside, and talk to me there, maybe we'll be safer, huh?"_

"_There's no time, Sasuke. Pack your stuff. I'll show you on the way out."_

_And sure enough, Sasuke got the picture once he saw the bulletin for himself. Suddenly, Sasuke froze. And he muttered one word. "Anbu."_

_I rolled m eyes. "Don't tell me!" but he didn't have to. I knew what. Tsunade was sending out Anbu to collect unmarried shinobi. I started to rush off, but Sasuke grabbed my arm. _

"_What about our old teammates?" he asked me. "We don't want them to face the horror of early marriage."_

_He had a point. "Then we must be swift. We can't use the front gate, so we'll scale the wall. Meet me on the far side of Konoha's wall with our friends."_

_And with that, he took of to collect them._

_End flashback. _

That was a week ago. We were running out of food, and we might have to forage soon. Then, Miho said something that was the smartest thing I think I ever heard her say. "What if Tsunade was right?"

Her comment was objected with a bunch of clatter.

Kiba couldn't believe her. "What are you saying, Miho?"

"All I'm talking about is that the Hokage always has something up her sleeve, right? But I'm not saying we should follow her."

Everybody had a look of confusion in their eyes.

"It's simple." She said, pointing her finger to the air as if she was trying to act smart. "We'll pretend to elope to each other."

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Ooooooooooooooooh! Cliffy! What do you think will happen? Will they go for it? Will they try something else? What's Miho's reasoning behind this? Do you think it'll work?

Why am I asking you all these questions? Come back soon for the next "engaging" chapter! (Get it? It's a pun!)

Announcements:

Okay, you're probably wondering who this Miho is. She's Kiba's girlfriend if you hadn't guessed already. The thing is, she's from another fan fiction I'm writing about Kiba because he's so cool and I felt bad for him about not having a girlfriend. (Well, besides Hinata if you're a KibaHina fanatic, no offense, but I believe in NaruHina.) But I created her. You can use her though, if you want. In fact, I encourage you to use her, you don't even need my permission, just fanfic away, and I just want to see how many people might end up using her. She's a cool character once you get to know her, just a little low on the brain matter if you know what I mean.

One more thing before I let you go. We all know there is a huge debate about who Shikamaru should end up with. To solve this problem, I ask you, my readers, to vote! Shikatema vs. Shikaino! And personally, in my opinion, I think Shikatema, so my vote counts as 1. So if you are a Shikaino fan, you better vote if you don't want that to happen!

So, until next time, I bid you Sayonara!

Not-so-sincerely, S.A.Hikari.


	2. Chapter 2

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Wow, guys, thanx for your support! I love you! It makes me feel good when you take your own time to review back! It shows your love for Fanfiction!

So far, Shikatema has prevailed. Keep on voting! ShikaTema: 3 Shikaino: 0!

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Her solution caused uproar.

"What? You can't be serious!" Tenten complained.

Miho seemed shocked. "Think about it. We'll be able to go about our normal lives; we'd just have a roommate, that's all."

Tenten objected. "That's all? That's _**all**_!? If you take out the "room" in roommate, what's that spell?"

"Ummm,"

"Mate! That's right! I don't want to live with someone who can make me pregnant!"

Choji was confused. "I thought you would want…"

Tenten cut him off. "I mean before I get married, I'm not yet."

"I thought we were going to change that," Miho said with a smirk.

Tenten got worried. "You mean this is going to be permanent?"

"Did I say that?"

Tenten stuttered. "W-well you said we were going to get ma…"

Another cutoff. "Just until we solve the problem or this blows over. Don't panic. I have confidence that Tsunade will give in eventually."

"Just how long is eventually?" She said, uneasy.

Miho ignored that.

"Hold on," Shikamaru said, "This could work, I'm just surprised I'm not the one who thought of it, and Miho did, of all people!"

Neji cocked his head. "I don't getchya."

Shikamaru sighed and began to explain. "It's just like a ninja mission for the better of Konoha's youth. We'll be undercover representing the rebellion. The only catch is we'll have to live together… um, yeah."

"It's easy for Miho to say though," I muttered, "She's the only one of us who actually has a relationship."

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, shifting his eyes back and forth.

"What; then should we draw straws?" Ino asked.

"No," Shikamaru assured, "I believe we should thoroughly think this through, so people will actually believe our story of running away to get hitched. For example, Sakura…"

I blushed, really hard.

"Your fake story could be that you used to love Sasuke, but since he's been back, he hasn't been that much popular anymore, and if you two even _**tried**_ to marry, wedding crashers would be more abundant than the actual guests! You two eloped because you wanted to avoid that."

"That seems to make sense," I said, my voice growing smaller with every passing word. I knew what this meant, as did all of us. I would be paired with Sasuke.

"Soooooo," Naruto said, restating the obvious, "I guess this means that Sakura is taken." His hand reached to his head, and scratched it as he was confused.

"Do not think of it as 'taken', Naruto," Shikamaru explained to Naruto, "She agrees to temporarily marry Sasuke," he looked at me, "Don't you?" he said, hopefulness in his voice.

I froze up. Looking at Sasuke, I felt my heart skip a beat, then break, seeing him, hurt." washed over his face. He was beautiful, and I felt a flicker of my lost love, trying to rekindle itself. I hurried. "Of coarse I will!" Then I realized that I had just said "I do." I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad.

Sasuke nodded and smirked. "I agree." Oop! There's another beat I'll never get back, thanks a lot, 'heartthrob.'

"Will you fight?' Shikamaru asked us. "We must pair you up so you won't kill each other. Two people cannot remain secluded together for very long, or they might make each other so angry so they have a motive to hurt their companion, as, sadly, husband and wife often do."

"No." We both spoke at the same time.

"What about the others?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

Shikamaru looked around, curious, "Anybody have any ideas?"

I glanced Hinata deep in thought trying for a solution. "Well, I know Miho and Kiba will want to p-pair up, right?"

"You betchya!" Kiba raised his thumb.

"But why would you run off and get married?" Shikamaru pondered.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Why would you require doing it without your parents, theoretically?" Shikamaru explained.

Miho put a hand on her chin in thought. "There are some traits that Kiba's mom doesn't actually like."

"What?" asked Kiba. He had no clue what went on in Miho's head.

"The fact that I summon tigers. The Inuzukas are canine, and I'm basically feline, not a good thing, nope."

"Hmm," Kiba thought out loud, solemnly.

"Fine." Said Shikamaru, sealing their fate.

Suddenly, Hinata exploded. "HIASHI HATES NARUTO!"

Naruto scoffed. "Hmf. Well, thanks a lot, Hinata,"

Her face turned as red as Sasuke's tomatoes. "Umm, I-I, mean, what I'm trying to say is…, I know a solution to…, I think I can fix…"

Shikamaru blurted like he was impatient to Hinata's stuttering, and, truth is, he probably was. "She's trying to say we should hook her up with Naruto, because Hiashi hates him." It's true.

Hinata touched her lips and turned even more red. "I-I-I-I…" and fainted.

"Actually, it makes sense." Shikamaru said. Too bad Hinata wasn't awake to hear.

"Oh well, I guess I'm fine with it, Hinata is kind of cute."

Kiba smirked and laughed a tiny laugh, like Sasuke might. "If I know Hinata… she'd faint, which means yes."

"Uggg,"

We heard a moan. Switching our heads around. Hinata was finally waking up. "What happened?"

"You and Naruto 'eloped'," I said, not subtlety at all.

She fainted…again.

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Okay, many sorries. This chapter was boring and uneventful, but I have to put it in to explain it, ya know? I don't know when I'll update next. Probably in a few days.

Special thanks to:

Kyo12591- thank you! Please continue to read.

Fynney and the Jets- I know what you are saying, but I can' t really change it now, 'cause it's too late, and about the dialogue, I'll do my best, but I'm only human, eh? ( Canadian! Woot.)

Sweetstuff88- than-q 4 the vote! It means a lot to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Wow

Wow! You are, once again, wonderful readers! I wish I could give you all a cookie! I've never had this many reviews! They make me feel great! So, I am proud to present: The third chapter of "Let's Play Pretend!"

Okay, so, the final score of Shikatema vs. Shikaino is…

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Okay, so me + Sasuke, Miho + Kiba, Hinata + Naruto.

The ones left are Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Neji, and Tenten.

Everyone was awkwardly silent, their eyes switching back and forth, just hoping someone was going to say something that didn't involve them.

"So, what about you, Shikamaru?" Ino asked, quite seductively.

"hm, I dunno." He said, not caring at all. He was obviously trying to think of a way were he didn't have to be involved in this, but, heck, if I had to be in it, he was going to be to. "Gimmie the water," he demanded of Kiba.

As he drank, I began to start conversation. 'Shikamaru, didn't you have a little intimacy with Temari of the sand a little while ago?" I inquired.

He choked on his water.

Wiping his sleeve, he glared at me. "What makes you say that?"

I rolled my eyes in a playful manner. "Um, I don't know, Kankaro hinted something last week when they were visiting for Naruto's birthday, and, it would be a great excuse for running away to be in love, two people from different villages, destined to be together, but their friends and family will never allow it, it's perfect!"

I never thought I'd see Shikamaru blush, but sure enough…

"Hey! Back off, Sakura!" All eyes darted towards Ino.

"What?" three different people said at the same time.

Her words got quieter. "Well, it's no fair that you stole Sasuke from me, so why should you go and take mah hunner hrush from mmme." No one could even understand her, she was speaking so quiet.

It was almost as if you could see the question marks above everybody's head.

"What was that?" I asked, "Speak up!"

She basically started to yell. "I said it's no fair you stole Sasuke from me, so now you want to take my new crush and give him to someone else?"

All was silent.

Neji crashed it like the emergency glass in a building on fire. "So what about me?!"

I counted the number of people left. The number was odd. This could get ugly.

"Um, guys?"

"What?" Neji snapped at me.

"I was just going to say… it's starting to get dark, and the number of people left is odd. Any body mind actually getting married, specifically a guy?"

They all stared at me as if I had tentacles coming out of my nose.

I was looking at Choji. He was moving his eyes from side to side, not keeping contact with someone for more than three milliseconds.

"Um," he spoke! "I could go and fetch Temari from the Sand village and bring her back… if you want."

"No Choji not you too!" Ino screamed.

"I still need a partner!" Neji yelled. Then the place started to get crazy. I could no longer distinguish one voice for another.

"Stop fighting over me!"

"I really don't care anymore. I'm going back to the village. Somebody please stop me!"

"Tenten, will you partner up with me."

"Ino! You should come over to my house."

"Blahblahblah…."

"Everybody SHUT UPPP!" I yelled. "Do you want the Anbu to find us?"

It's silent again.

"Obviously, this is going to be tougher than we thought, but are we going to let that stop us?"

Crickets.

"Anybody who isn't married yet, will you please stand up?"

They did.

"You will be quiet for the next hour while we clean this up, kapish?"

No response.

"Any disobeyers will get a formal introduction with my fists!"

Their heads nodded slowly.

"Now, Neji, you seem to be quite concerned with the fact that you don't have a partner.'

He began to speak in the way he normally does. "Yes, little miss. I do not want my uncle to be concerned with me, but I have a feeling he will be very angry when we return, especially if it is without a wife, no offense Ino, but I do not think I want to join in your little brawl of Temari vs. Ino vs. Shikamaru vs. Choji, so how would you feel, Tenten, If I defied my uncle's wishes with you?"

Her face started to turn blue.

Sasuke panicked. "Breath, Tenten, breath!"

"This works out perfectly for them," I thought. "Tenten isn't exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to blood, but she is very sweet. Hiashi doesn't expect that of his nephew."

Now all that's left is to decide who Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino will end up with. I hate love triangles.

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I'm sorry this is so short; I just need to finish up with this explanation thing. Oh! And the result of the voting will be in the next chapter. So than-q for reading. The next chapter will not be here for until several days, I think, because I need to brainstorm, and I'm feeling depressed. But don't worry; the next chapter will definitely be here by next week.

Special thanks to:

Kyo12591-Yes, they are my favorite couples!

Sweetstuff88- hey, thank you! I will.

Strawberry Lulz

Chocolatecake- Thank you for the vote.

Lauralove- thanks.

ToraHimeSama- I know! It's something he never does. It's fun to read about him doing stuff like that.

ClubSlut

GhostfurAndSkibreaker- I just wanna ask, do you read Warriors?

A Forgotten Fairy..AKA-fairy- Sakura doesn't seem phased, does she? I guess she's still in shock or something.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello there! It's S.A. Hikari again.

You won't believe this, but Shikaino vs. Shikatema is…….. a tie! Can you believe it? Six to six. Which one will it be? You'll have to read to find out!

I don't own Naruto

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"How about rock paper scissors" Ino asked.

"To determine what?" I asked, curious.

"To see who gets Shikamaru!" She said, quite bluntly.

"Hey!" Choji yelled, "That still doesn't solve the problem of who I should be with!"

"You know what?" Sasuke said to him, "Shut up, I'm thinking."

"Hey! Be polite. Wait a minute," I hatched an idea, "What did you say before?" I said to Choji.

"Um, I said I'd go to the sand village to deliver a message to Temari."

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed, "He could go and get Temari, and then stay there until we fix this; how's that sound, Choji?"

He nodded in his usual way. "That way I don't have to be part of this fiasco, but what I don't understand is why you guys don't stay there too."

"Well," I thought about this, he might be right, until I knew it wouldn't work, "If we all go there at the same time, the village would find out and send us back with an escort."

"Yeah, you're right," he said, "I should go alone and get her."

Ino was screaming. "Hey! What did I say before?"

I turned to my friend. "Calm down, this isn't real. Besides, if you were partnered with Shikamaru, you'd have no reason to, and he'd be too lazy to do anything, right? It'd make you frustrated."

Shikamaru popped a vain. "You know, I'm still here. I can hear everything you're saying."

"Shut up," Ino snapped at him.

Shikamaru just kept on muttering. "Yeah, yeah, girls are so troublesome, I don't even know why I'm part of this stupid plan, and I should just go back to the village…"

Whatever, we were ignoring him.

"If you can't get exactly what you want, what do you want, then?" I asked Ino.

"I'll guess I'll travel with Choji to the sand village and stay there too, two isn't enough people to alert the sirens, they'll just think were on vacation or something," Ino said in a sad manner.

"Sounds like a plan," Shikamaru said, rather blandly.

I looked to the sky. Twilight was just about done. "Well, its time to get some sleep. We'll need proof tomorrow, with all of you as my witnesses; I will fake getting hitched tomorrow." Those words tingled on my tongue long after I said them.

"Ditto," said Naruto, clutching a still unconscious Hinata.

"Ditto," said Tenten.

"Yahoo!" screamed Kiba.

"Whee!" yelled Miho.

It was finally dark, and as I savored my last few minutes of my last day of being single, or at least not fake married, I got that feeling that some might call wedding jitters. But how could that be if this was just a scam?

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That feeling was still there when I woke up the next morning. I looked around and realized I was the only one up, except Akamaru, who was sniffing around for some tid-bits. I dug deep in my pocket and pulled out a cracker.

"Here, here, puppy," But he wasn't a puppy anymore. He came up all the way to my chest. His ears perked up and his tongue fell out of his mouth.

_RUFF!_

His bark almost toppled me over, but didn't wake anybody. It certainly wasn't a small _arf!_ anymore.

He walked over as I held out my hand and he ate the cracker really loudly.

"Shh! could you be a little more quiet?" I told him. I was talking to a dog. This meant I probably was going crazy from the stress of my fake wedding, but it felt good, so I kept talking. "Akamaru? I bet it's much easier being a dog than a human. You don't have to worry about petty things like marriage and love, huh?"

He kept on munching that cracker.

"You don't know how stressful it is. Especially my life. My life sucks. Sure, I'm lady Hokage's apprentice, but what good does that do when she's lost her marbles? Also, my love life isn't the greatest you've heard of either, I bet. First I'm in love, but then it turns out my love is a power hungry avenger who's never loved a single day in his life since the Uchiha tragedy."

He finished the cracker and looked at me for another one. I petted his head.

"Then I confess on the day he leaves town, and he knocks me unconscious, I'm supposed to not love him anymore…right?" I looked at him as if he knew all the answers; he just started at me with a confused look in his eyes. I threw my arms around him in a puppy hug and started to cry. "I don't know what to feel anymore! Why am I so nervous if this is fake and I don't even love him anymore?"

Suddenly I felt a presence. I wiped around, fighting back my tears, to face Sasuke. I was speechless.

He was speechless.

Maybe even Akamaru was speechless.

"I…I have to fetch more water at the stream, I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

"Sakura," His alluring voice made me think back to the days when we were twelve. I didn't do anything, I just walked away. But, apparently, he takes that as a yes.

He followed me to the stream.

"You know, you don't have to do this."

"Don't give me that, you were eavesdropping on me, besides, I want to. I need to figure out what's going on with Tsunade."

He shrugged. "Whatever," I looked away, "But you know, you're not so annoying anymore, in fact, you've got some leadership in you."

I had to double-take, but didn't have time. As I was scooping the water, I heard our companions wake up.

"Hey!" Shikamaru yelled, "Guys, if we want to execute the plan today, we need to start right away."

My heart gave a jolt as Sasuke held out his hand, "Well, you comin' or not?"

I smirked. This was more like the Sasuke I used to know. "Sure."

And wouldn't you know it, I took his hand.

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Sorry for that little bit of OCCness at the end there, but other than that, I think this is a pretty good chapter, I know I said it would be a while, but I got good ideas! So sue me. I wish I could list all your names, but there are a lot of you! I'm sorry for those of you who prefer Shikaino, but It's hard to come up with ideas for that one, especially since there are so many chapters already. I still think it's completely weird that it's a tie. I hope this won't render you from continuing to read. Don't worry! It'll start to get actiony very soon.

Not-so-sincerely,

S.A.Hikari.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello and Happy 4th

Hello and Happy 4th! I'm so sorry that you guys were confused about Shikamaru, but it is indeed Shikatema. Also, there may be some slight oocness in this chapter at the end, so if you are against it, you may not like this chapter, but it's not that bad. So enjoy chapter five.

I don't own Naruto.

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We walked through the trees to find the hustle and bustle of our camp.

Shikamaru came over and yelled at us. "Where have you been?! We've been frantic looking for you!"

This I couldn't understand. Shikamaru? Frantic? It didn't seem to fit him. Could it be that he was nervous too? But it was highly doubtful that he was marrying today, it was mainly just the rest of us. He would most likely do it tomorrow

"All right! Who's first?"

It's weird, the way he automatically asked us who wanted to lose being single, as if it was asking who wanted to be punished first and get it over with.

"Do you want to send Ino and Choji on their way before starting?" Neji suggested.

"Why?" he snapped. Wow. He really was out of it.

"No," Choji said, "That would be a good idea; we could get Temari here as fast as possible."

Shikamaru was silent, but we all knew what he was doing in his mind: blushing.

So I got together the last of the food and gave it to them, they'd need it for the rest of the trip, while we'd be going back vary soon.

"Goodbye!" I said, the only one seeing them off, except of coarse everybody else who was standing behind me, not saying anything.

"Whoohoo! Have fun on your journey to the sand!" There goes Miho.

"Um, thanks, we will," Ino said, not sure how to react.

To make a long story short, they went off with a weird look on their faces from the goodbye kisses from Miho.

Kiba wasn't embarrassed, but I sure was.

"Yahoo!" That's Kiba for ya.

"Why do we even have to do this?" Naruto asked.

"Do what?" I questioned.

"You know, get married like this. Why don't we waltz back to the village and say we eloped?"

"That's a good question," I thought out loud.

"No," Shikamaru shot out. "We need proof, don't we? It won't be formal; we'll just have to sign a fake marriage license."

Sasuke shrugged.

It still felt too weird to me. I can't believe how casual Sasuke looked.

"So where do we get the licenses?"

"Um," Shikamaru said, "I got one of those things that say I can marry people. It turns out I had some extra slips in my packing bag when I left, how convenient is that?"

I did a raspberry…as inner Sakura of course. Shikamaru would kill me if I really did that.

He pulled out several pieces of paper, and they were covered with hand-written words by Shikamaru. It was obvious he made them not too long ago. He handed me one. It was just a bunch of garbled-up letters and words. Only one sentence made sense: "I, the signed person, agree to marry my partner for a limited time. P.S. It' fake!"

He handed one to each of the couples, then passed around a fancy pen. I looked down at the paper, and in the nicest font I could, I signed.

_**Sakura Haruno**_

Sasuke took it from me and signed.

_**Sasuke Uchiha**_

Then he had a strange look on his face and he handed the license back to me.

"What?" I said, confused.

"You spelled your name wrong." And he crossed out '_**Haruno**_' "I'll spell it for you this time, correctly."

Next to the crossed out Haruno, he wrote '_**Uchiha**_'

I looked at those words, felt a pang in my heart, and felt like Hinata, poised and ready to faint.

Dizzily, I watched everyone else except Shikamaru sign their own license.

"Oh, almost forgot," Sasuke said. He reached his hand into his pocket…and pulled out a ring. "I think you'll need this."

He slipped it on my finger.

This time, I really did faint.

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I woke up, a little woozy. I put my hand on my forehead to stabilize my brain. I heard voices. They were scattered and whispered.

"…do that?"

"…worry…tri…"

"…what….Sakura…?"

"…love…react…trick…"

"Ev…else…too."

I moaned, not because I hurt, but because I wanted attention.

All the heads huddled looked up and saw me awake. There were three people there. Shikamaru, Temari, and…Sasuke.

Seeing his face made me realize what happened. I held up my hand to look at it.

The ring was gone.

It was then that I found it was dark. Everybody else was asleep, and I noticed that each had a ring on their middle finger.

I looked at Sasuke, and he had a guilty look on his face. He held out a palm, and there was my ring. I could see it better now. It was quite beautiful, something I didn't know Sasuke was capable of appreciating.

It had a diamond on the middle, with emeralds surrounding it. The band itself was black, and had pearls dotting around it.

I couldn't help but look at the others, and their rings. They were exactly identical to the one in Sasuke's palm.

"Here, I'm sorry I took it from you, I had to look at it for a second."

Why did he have to look at mine in particular, everyone else had one? Why didn't he ask for one from a person who wasn't unconscious?

"Hello Temari. I see you got here safely, and swiftly, too. It's only been…what?" I said.

"Six hours." Sasuke finished my sentence.

"How did you get here so fast?" I asked.

"Oh, well, Miho sent one of her tigers with a message after you went unconscious to get me her faster. Obviously, tigers are faster than Ino and Choji. I met up with them after I left the village while riding Kuna-Kenta, her tiger." She explained.

I also noticed she had an identical ring.

"What's with these rings?" I asked Shikamaru.

It was Sasuke who answered. "Oh, uh, um, well, it's the wedding rings, to…you know… make us seem like we're married."

"Gosh," I thought out loud again, "This certainly is a big deal, but, how did you get these rings if we haven't been in town since we formed this idea?"

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Okay, now what's with the rings? Is there a story behind them? What about the plan? Will it even end up working? Or will Tsunade's brains be too smart for them? Tune in next time for the next installment of "_Let's Play Pretend!"_

Okay, sorry about that, I just love sounding like a phony radio announcer, and the fireworks show I saw yesterday was totally lame. It was like, across the bay so we could barely see it, and we waited two and a half hours for the thing! How much does that suck?

Just to warn you, next week I'm going to my grandparents, and my grandpa will never let me use his computer, besides, I'm making my costume for Sakura-Con with help with my grandma, so don't expect an installment from Wednesday to Monday, okay? And once again, thank you so very much for your support!

I'm-actually-quite-sincere-this-time,

S.A.Hikari


	6. Chapter 6

Boo

Hi once again, and I apologize that it's been so long. I just got back from my grandparents, and I feel so relaxed. I didn't forget about you though. How could I forget such wonderful readers? It's weird though, having an ongoing fan fiction, it's like a huge responsibility. You've got to do things on time, and such. But I really love it, so here is chapter six, and enjoy!

Don't. Own. Naruto.

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"It's just a scam," I told myself for the billionth time that morning. For some reason, that seemed much too obvious for my subconscious, and too confusing for my present mind. I just didn't seem to get it.

My eyes stared off into space.

"So, Sasuke, you still haven't answered my question."

His eyes turned to me, leaving the rest of his body behind, and said one of the two words that I cautiously wrote down in my Sasuke Encyclopedia.

"Hn."

I figured.

It was such a simple question. "Where did you get the rings?" A one word answer or three.

"I stole them."

"I found them."

"I bought them."

Nope. None of these answers seemed up to par, so the only place I heard them was in my in my mind. So apparently he got the rings in the jewelry store Hn, in the town of Hn, in the magical fairy land of South Hn.

I giggled at my self made humor.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke snapped.

"Gosh, Sasuke, lighten up. I just remembered a joke."

He smirked. "I like jokes."

Somebody pinch me. **The** Sasuke Uchiha likes jokes? No way, I wish somebody told me earlier.

"So lets' hear it." Naruto said.

"Hear what?" I said.

"The joke of course."

Was he eavesdropping on us? Well, it's not like we are secluded, right? Anybody could have heard us talking, but now I was in a predicament. I said I had a funny joke, when I really had none on my mind. I swiftly thought up a joke I remembered from my academy days.

"Okay, so, um, what do birds give out at the end of birthday parties?"

"What?" Sasuke said, like he was at a graveyard.

"Tweet bags!"

Naruto cracked up, Hinata smiled, but Sasuke remained unmoved.

"Whatever," he mumbled under his breath.

I scoffed. If he wanted to be like that, then so be it. I didn't care if he liked jokes or no…

…

…

We were being followed.

I whipped around "Halt!"

Several men, attempting to tip toe, and in black masks, stopped.

I heard them whispering, then one of them, who I presumed to be the leader, stood up to his full height.

"Surrender! You cannot possibly hope to defeat us! You must now be our hostages!"

Kiba sighed. "Oh, boy, another threat," he said quietly, then raised his voice, "You are hopelessly outnumbered, are you really that dense?"

A ninja behind the leader stepped forward.

"Aha, but we are stronger then we look."

The leader turned and tried to whisper, but he did it in a way that everyone knew what he was saying.

"You imbecile! Stick to the plan!" Then he turned back to face us and smiled a foolish smile.

"Sooo, do you oblige?'

Sasuke snarled. "Scum! Threatening Leaf ninja is extremely foolish! If you think you have a measly chance, come on then!" He ripped his sleeves to show off his hard-earned muscles, took a fighter stance, and moved his fingers in a beckoning gesture.

Oh, man. If my heart ever hurt… this one most certainly guaranteed five years of my life expectancy.

Miho stepped forward. "You ready?"

Sasuke smirked. "More than ever."

I braced myself for fighting, as did all my companions.

Miho readied her hands for fast signs. She bit her thumb and spread her blood on the scroll she pulled from her chunin vest.

_Dragon._

_Horse._

_Tiger._

She slammed her open palm on the ground, and a huge puff of white smoke appeared. As it cleared, a giant cat took up its space. It had ropes around its neck in red and white colors. Curled strings on the ropes dangled freely on his magnificent chest. A cigarette quivered in his mouth, and his huge paws seethed for action. The tail whipped like a snake, ready to bite.

Boy was that tiger huge.

"Kuna-Kena!" Miho greeted the tiger.

"Miho!" The cat said, in a low rumble voice that shook the ground.

"Please do us a favor and help out?" She requested.

The tiger looked at the infiltrators and lowered his head closer to the ground.

"No problem."

"Ready…" Miho lifted her head into the air. "GO!"

And they literally leapt into action.

Now Miho has never, EVER, killed an enemy, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's a bad fighter. She just doesn't like to kill.

The rouge ninja froze. Oh, were they in for a treat.

Miho leapt on top of Kuna-Kena in one jump, and Kuna-Kena leaped into a spinning twirl, a lot like Kiba's fang-over-fang. They raced toward the ninja and pushed one over using that jutsu. Sasuke ran up to them and used fire style.

The ninja jumped.

Sasuke followed, "Lions barrage!"

The ninja was down. Unconscious and not dead.

I bound him for a prisoner.

Kuna-Kena was so large, he just sprinted by and someone would fall to their knees, hurt by the momentum.

Shikamaru froze them with his Shadow Possession. Hinata used gentle fist, side by side with Neji, who managed to keep up with her, only because she slowed down enough to let him.

This continued until only the leader was left, in a fighter stance, with a snarled lip and surrounded completely.

"Nice," He said with a sneer, "Now watch my trick," he formed some hand signs I wasn't able to see, but all the same, I found a hard lump in my throat as a premonition that something bad was going to happen. "_**Mystic Hypnotism Jutsu!"**_

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Oh no! What's with the new jutsu?

So, yeah, I was working on this chapter most of the ride home, and you won't believe how long it's taken. Oh well, I'm back now.

So how did you like this chapter? I liked the fact that I added some action in there, for you action-lovers. And I know, I love romance, so don't worry, it's coming! See ya soon!

Bidding-you-a-fond-Sayonara,

S.A.Hikari!


	7. Chapter 7

How are you

How are you? It's me again, S.A.Hikari. How do you like it so far? Let me know. Well, here's chapter 7. Enjoy!

I don't own Naruto.

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I really don't know what happened next, so I'll just rely on what everyone told me later. They say my eyes went black. Then they started to tell me something that Sasuke did, unfortunately, he showed up and threatened to beat the crap out of them if they told. That made me smile. I'm not dumb, though Sasuke refuses to acknowledge that.

Anyway, apparently I became a mindless zombie, pushing my friends aside to get to the imposter, (I still can't believe that I could fall for something like that, so he must have been really skillful.) Then, he blindfolded me and tied up my hands, just in case if I was strong enough to break out of the jutsu.

"He." The man chuckled, "after your little stunt, you'll never see her again."

They say Sasuke gritted his teeth and started to prowl towards us.

"Ah ah ah," the man said, scolding him, "One more step and I'll slit her throught."

Sasuke hesitated.

He smiled an evil smile. "That's a good boy, now back away," he slumped me over his shoulder, "just tell your village leader her precious apprentice is a hostage, and if she ever hopes to see her again, stop operation "mother and child" immediately and give consent to the village hidden in the skies so we will send ninja to confirm it. If we find any fooling, the Hokage won't have to worry about thinking up another lesson."

He slumped me over his shoulder and took out a kunai knife, which he pressed to my neck.

He slowly backed away into the shadows, until we were in the shadows and out of earshot.

Sasuke shouted. "Sakura!"

A hand rested on his shoulder affectionately. "Calm down Sasuke, we'll get her back."

Kiba hung his head and shook it. "Man, what are we going to do now?" He said solemnly, with Miho by his side whose eyes were starting to water.

A fierce voice pierced the air. "I'll tell you what were are going to do." They all turned to see Tenten, who had a warrior's look in her eye. "We aren't going to sit here and mope about it. Remember that it wasn't us. It was him. He played the cheat card and made us underestimate him."

Neji's lids were closed and his head rested on his chest. His arms were folded to represent mysteriousness about him. "Tenten is right. We did underestimate him. Our only chance now is retrieve Sakura. We are going to get her. The bad news is that he's more powerful than we originally thought. The good news is…" he opened his eyes and met Sasuke's, "He underestimated us."

Tenten looked to the rest of the group. "Correct. We have a tracking expert on our side." She nodded to Kiba.

Kiba smiled a wolfly grin. He lifted his arms up into the cold winter air. "You better believe it!" Then, as if to finish it off, he shouted his signature line, "Yahoo!"

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I woke up in a cold, damp place. The air tasted salty and wet. The sound of crashing waves echoed in the room I was in. I couldn't see anything on account of I had a blindfold on. Behind it all, the squawking of birds, which I was told were seagulls, informed me that I was at the ocean. I had never been to the ocean before, even if I was being held captive, the aura it gave off was a good feeling. I liked it here. Then I smiled. A thought crossed my mind. _I'll be sad to leave so soon._

I sensed a presence around me. "Who's there?!" I said.

"See, governor? I told you." Came a voice I recognized as the man who kidnapped me.

"Impressive, Kotaru. Usually your annoying jutsu just gets you in trouble."

The man who is now known as Kotaru, began to take off my blindfold, I-I think.

Then I saw their faces. Kotaru, a not very friendly face, just looked simple; his hair went down to the nape of his neck. His eyes, beady and mischievous, darted back and forth as if he were nervous or something.

The governor had a short white beard, but despite that, I don't think he was very old. His eyes were even more menacing than Kotaru's.

"Well, you know what to do." The governor said. And he left. I glared at him.

"So what are you a coward?" I screamed.

Kotaru grabbed my shirt and pulled my face up to his. "Just be quiet, and don't insult my master."

"Kotaru, for goodness sakes put her down. She doesn't know what's going on, if she keeps to be a problem, just leave her alone. The deadline will arrive soon."

Kotaru nodded. "Yes, master, go and do your business."

Without another word, he left, and Kotaru threw me back in my seat where I was trapped.

"Where am I?" I asked innocently.

"The land of air." Kotaru said, keeping his eyes off me.

"Well, that makes sense." I said in a normal voice, and then added quietly, "considering everyone here is an airhead."

"What did you say?" He exclaimed.

I tried to talk my way out of it. "N-nothing…"

The door of the room crashed down. I saw Sasuke. The others were behind him. "Leave. Her. Alone."

"Sasuke!" I screamed.

He looked at me, then back at Kotaru. "How did you get here?"

He smirked. "We have a tracker, plus, you underestimated us."

He sprinted into the room, and threw a punch.

Unfortunately, Kotaru dodged and appeared behind Sasuke, hitting him upside the head. Sasuke flinched, allowing Kotaru to push him to the floor.

"Sasuke! Untie me!"

He looked up to me, then turned on his back and punched Kotaru in the stomach.

"Ooh!" Kotaru kneeled over, groaning in pain.

Sasuke turned and began to cut the ropes binding me. The others were just frozen in stun, as if this was Sasuke's battle only.

Kotaru looked up with a bloody scowl.

He leaped to his feet and began fighting Sasuke over me. Since he was distracted, I had to give instructions on how to fight back, and untie me at the same time.

"Left!"

"Down!"

"Punch!"

At last he untied me. I leapt to my feet, and gathering charka in my fist, I plowed it into his chest.

He was thrust back into the cabin wall, which collapsed when he collided with it.

Sasuke walked up to him, and looked down. He was still barely alive.

He said something I never thought I would hear him say.

"Keep your paws off my wife."

"Noooo!" The scream was from Miho as she watched Sasuke kill the man who had threatened my life.

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How did you like the ending? Was it a surprise?

Well, I'll guess I'll talk to ya soon. It's just weird how I'm evolving the story line. I wish it were simpler and had more romance in it. Don't worry though, it's coming up. I promise. This is just in here to make it more interesting and seem like it could actually happen in the show. That is what I was going for.

Sayonara,

S.A.Hikari


	8. Chapter 8

Boo.

Hey. It's me again, S.A.Hikari. Here's Chapter 8. Sorry it took so long.

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Sasuke turned to look at me. His eyes were hard, but as soon as our sight connected, his head drooped, and they turned soft and regretful.

"Sasuke…"

He shot at me. "Don't talk to me."  
Miho ran up and checked Kotaru's pulse. "He really is dead." She looked up at us. "Why Sasuke? Why did you have to kill him?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but closed it in a small breath. He turned, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out the door. My heart ached excessively. "Wife?"

I looked at Miho. Her eyes were tearing.

"Violence… killing… what good comes from it all?"

Poor Miho. She didn't know Sasuke several years ago, when he was in the clutches of Orochimaru. Back then, all that mattered was power. He was confused, and in pain. It took more than a little bit of convincing to get him to come back. Well, that is a different story. One we don't talk about anymore.

I looked at the body. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I thought about what he'd have done to me if Sasuke hadn't killed him. Yet, the pain in my stomach was worse, as I thought about Kotaru's friends, family, maybe even lovers, who I didn't know, who would be sad to learn this information. I had no choice, but to leave him there.

My friends were all so glad to see me, and it was time to leave this place.

I walked out the door, and I saw the beach. The seagulls were cackling as usual, and I was happy to be greeted so fondly by everyone with hugs, kisses, and other things as well. But the thing that never left my mind as I followed my friends from that place was what Sasuke said before he killed Kotaru.

_"Keep your paws off my wife."_

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I gotta tell you. The Hidden Leaf Village really is a sight for sore eyes. I sighed heavily when we saw the front gate, and all the people wandering around inside of it. It was a beautiful reward for a terrible journey I hopefully will never have to take again. The price tag, however, was telling my parents what happened, which would have to be a lie. A lie. A very strange, complicated, make-me-faint-why-don't-you lie.

Shikamaru was ahead of us, and began running in a fashion I never thought I would see him do. But, he stopped, crouched down, and did that thing where he meditates. At least, it looked like he was meditating.

When we all caught up to him, it seemed like he had just prepared a speech. "Okay, dingbats. Partner up like we discussed. This part of our plan could be rough; hopefully Lady Tsunade will believe us in her very confused state."

Confused? She was downright crazy!

As Shikamaru continued to talk, I looked down at the ring Sasuke gave me back at camp. I gripped the gem with my thumb and forefinger of my other hand and twirled it around. It was really fancy, and a mystery. I might have to beat the answer out of the chicken haired, solemn, impossible heart-throb. And what was with that one-liner? Could he possibly be enjoying this fiasco? He called me his wife, gave me a ring, changed my last name to Uchiha on an unofficial document, oh, yeah, and kissed me! No wait, that was in that dream I had that night. The point is what was with him?

"Okay, anyone have any questions?" Shikamaru asked.

I looked up, a wave of panic washed over my face. I only heard one sentence of his so called 'speech'. "Wait… what?!"

"No." everyone recited except for me.

"Good. Now let's commence this thing." I just stood there, quietly thinking this over.

Everyone started walking. Sasuke grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him. We sped along towards the gate, where the guards were waiting. They sat up in their seats.

"Whoa! They're back! The missing ninja are back!"

Sasuke pulled me closer to him, and I noticed that all the pairs were holding hands. Shikamaru, next to Temari, approached the guards and started talking in a way where none of us could hear.

"Wow! Really?" I heard that. It was the guard. "Fascinating. Well, I'm sure Tsunade will want to know that she can take all of you off of her Ninja to find list."

Shikamaru nodded and waved us to follow him to the Hokage's office. I looked and stared at how many couples were in the courtyard that day. My mouth was agape.

"Come along… _dearest…_" Sasuke said in a forced act. Gosh. You will never know how weird this felt.

By the time we arrived at the office, I counted 52 turned heads.

We all scrambled up the stairs in an unorganized fashion. I was scared to see Tsunade. I wondered if she kept care of herself. If her hair was cut unevenly, if her clothes were dirty, if her eyes would be crossed. I decided to stop thinking about this in several minutes because I was afraid of the image it gave off in my mind.

"Aha! The prodigal sons and daughters return." There she was. Despite the way that some called her crazy, and I hadn't seen her in quite a while, she didn't look that different. She carried herself as nobler as ever. "I expect a wild story." She said.

And boy did she get one. She had never expected us to go off and elope, even if we had good reasons to.

"Wow, Sakura! You could have come to me with this problem; you know I would have kept you safe from all the wedding crashers out there, even if you were marrying that Sasuke boy." Its' true. If I really did have that problem in real life, Tsunade would be my first resort. "But despite that, I trust you." When she said this, I kept a strait face, but inside I was wincing. "I know you had quite a crush on him when you were young, and you have my full support, as I do to all of you." That made me smile. Whoever thought Tsunade was crazy must be crazy.

Then I remembered that at first I thought she was. My mind put its foot in its mouth.

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked us.

That was a good question. I had no clue.

It was Hinata who spoke. "I guess we could all go and try to find h-homes now. I-I guess."

Tsunade nodded. "That would be best. I wish I could help you in the money department, but however this government doesn't have **that** much money. You'll have to find leases on your own."

"Thank you for your concern, Lady Hokage, but we will be alright." Sasuke said.

Tsunade looked at me, even if she was speaking to the lot of us. "Then comes the matter of your parents." She said wisely.

My eyes drooped, and I shuddered to think what the response of my parents would be once I coughed up the truth.

Sasuke didn't have any parents, but I wouldn't consider that very lucky.

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I stood with Sasuke in front of my door. I was hesitant to ring the doorbell, but I had to.

My arm felt so heavy as I lifted it, but the weight left me when I felt pressure on my shoulder. I turned. Sasuke looked at me, a look of sympathy in his eyes.

Before I was ready, I heard the heart-pounding sound of the door bell. I had pushed the button without even knowing it.

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Chapter eight everybody!

Why does it seem like the review count is going down? I know I sound like a stuffy author, but why? Is there a way I can fix it?

Sayonara-until-next-time,

S.A.Hikari

p.s. Did anyone see the finale of Avatar? Wasn't that amazing!? Keep on the lookout for an Avatar fan fiction to follow up the magnificent series by myself and my best friend Dappycat.


	9. Meet the Parents

Boo

Wow, you guys really liked that last chapter. 14 reviews! Well, here's chapter 9.

I don't own Naruto.

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"Hello?"

A fierce voice penetrated my menacing thoughts. It was my dad. His gravely, throughty sound is impossible to not recognize.

I turned to see the cracked door, and my dad's blue eye peering into my soul. I love my dad, but sometimes his large figure may scare someone he doesn't know.

Once he saw me and Sasuke, he opened the door fully. "Oh Sakura! Where have you been? You had me and your mother worried sick! And…" his rambling stopped and his eyes went wide, "Why is the Uchiha boy with you?"

I closed my eyes and rested my head in my hands. "Oh my gosh…" I was so hopeless, "Well, that's part of the reason why I've been missing for two weeks."

My dad narrowed his eyes. "Sakura… did you do something you are going to regret?"

Oh my, he read me well.

"Well, um.." I couldn't speak.

Then I saw my mother. "Mom!"

"Sakura!" She ran up next to my father. "Why didn't you tell me you dimwit?" And she slapped him upside the head. Sometimes people will say I'm just like my mother.

"So tell me, Sakura! What happened?" Dad yelled, ignoring my mother.

Sasuke walked in front of me and locked eyes with my father. I've never seen **anyone** talk to my father like he does. "Excuse me. But something has happened. I hope you will understand. Maybe we should talk about this inside your house.'

My mom's face froze up. "Why what happened?"

Sasuke was tense. "_**Inside please.**_"

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"What a relief!"

I had not expected that. "What's a relief, mom?" I asked her, hoping for some clarification.

She looked at me as if I were dumb. "Why, you getting married of course! I thought something happened that would involve you doing something that shouldn't happen until you really got married, after all, this is the law now."

I blushed. I looked at Sasuke. Why him again? And what is this stupid feeling in my stomach? Sasuke wasn't looking at me. He still had his stone face on as usual, not even caring about what I thought. He looked so serious, so…so…

"Pervert." Said my dad.

"What?!" I exclaimed out loud. "No, no, I wasn't doing anything, not…thinking…anything…"

"Relax, Sakura," said my Dad. "I was talking to your mom. The way she automatically assumed… anyway I'm not talking about your little fantasies."

I blushed even harder.

"You seem to do that a lot," said Sasuke.

My heart grew hot, and my suspicions went wild. "D-do what?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Blush, of course."

Wow. I really hated that conversation.

"Well, you don't know how much I've liked meeting with you," I said, my voice nervous and getting up impatiently, "But I think it's time to go now, bye!" I rushed, hoping to get out of this fishing net in which my father had caught us in. I grabbed Sasuke's hand and sprinted to the door.

"Wait, just a second." Said my dad. Oh no. Here it comes… "Do you have a place to stay?"

I put my index finger on my lip and smiled nervously. "Well, um, um," I was really hoping they weren't going to make us stay here.

"Yes. My house." Said Sasuke. That would make sense, the bride moving in to the groom's house, that's the way it's always been. But in most cases, the bride and groom are **actually** married, their ages are a little bigger so they **actually** have their own home, and they are **actually** going to be together for the rest of their lives.

The only reason Sasuke has his own home is because his parents left it to him when they died, in fact, he has his own district! But while I was on this in-mind ramble, I wasn't thinking about what this really meant. I was going to live, in a house, owned by Sasuke, with him. Great. Just fantastic. More heart beats I'm never going to get back.

I just closed my eyes and smiled.

"Sakura and I will reside in the old Uchiha district, where our clan will ultimately be reborn.'

Oh, hohohoho. Sasuke's a big boy now. He's gonna….** WHAT?!**

I nearly fainted, but then our secret would be let out, wouldn't it. But, then, much to my horror, my dad pulled in the net for the kill.

He leaned down, 'cause he's a lot taller that either of us, and got face-to-face with Sasuke. "You plannen' on what I think yer plannen' on?" He sneered, laying his southern accent on thick.

Sasuke remained calm. Much to my relief, he didn't answer my dad's question. "We have to go now."

My mother pranced up and spoke. "Don't you want your stuff, honey? And, Sasuke, I need to know your address so I can visit you in the future, possibly with grandki…"

I interrupted her sentence because I did **not** need to hear that word out loud, even if it was echoing in my brain. "I'll come and get my stuff later, besides, I don't have that much."

My mother waved goodbye as we walked to the door. "Call again!"

The best sound I've ever heard in my life so far is the sound of the door shutting.

As soon as we were out on the porch, Sasuke sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned on the wall of my parent's house. "Agh, why didn't you warn me?" He said fiercely.

I looked over at him, my eyes wide. "About what?"

He opened his eyes and turned. "About your parents. Who could have guessed they were so unpredictable. One minute they're interrogating me. The next they give me a goodbye kiss."

"Aauuu!" I said, "Sasuke afraid of a little goodbye kiss??" I pursed my lips in a kissy-kissy-goo-goo fashion to taunt him with.

It was my surprise when he grabbed my cheeks and brought me close to his face. Seductively, he uttered "Be truthful when you answer this: do you mind this?"

And he planted a big wet one right on my lips.

I was beginning to think I would never be kissed. By the time this occurred I had given up, but this is too much. My childhood dream was finally coming true.

When he pulled us apart, I couldn't look him in the eye. "Lets just go home, I want to rest."

He looked shocked. But he nodded. "I understand. I just was expecting something else."

So, I followed him home, like a little loyal puppy should.

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I sat on his couch, completely comfortable. It was strange to be home, and not at my parent's house. I picked up the remote and switched the television on. There, on the screen was Titanic.

The theme was playing.

You know,

_Near…Far…_

_Where ever we are..._

That song would always make me cry. I needed something to eat. "Sasuke! Bring me something to eat!"

He came in with a bowl with a blue rim. "Yes, your _majesty, _Oh, what are you watching?' He put the bowl on the coffee table. It was filled to the brim with dried tomato chips. Oh, yummy. (Gross!)

We watched the end of Titanic together.

It was the best time I've ever had watching that movie.

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I'm so glad I got past this boring chapter, but now I have to come up with another chapter, oh crap.

The end took me forever. It was too boring. Oh, well, thank you for soo much appreciation last chapter! I love you!

Sayonara,

S.A.Hikari


	10. The life and times of the Uchiha's

Boo

To quote Kiba: "Yahoo!" Its' my tenth chapter anniversary! (Throws confetti into the air and does a little dance.) As my first multi-chapter fan fiction, this is a momentous occasion! SO HERE'S CHAPER TEN! YEY!

I do not own Naruto.

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"Hinataaaa!"

Hiashi's thundering voice rocked the village to a man-made Earthquake.

Hinata closed her eyes and cringed. "F-father, please forgive me. I-I-I l-love N-Naruto.'

Naruto had called us ten minutes ago to assist with telling Hinata's dad about this. I had a feeling things would be bad, but Hiashi is a thundering tornado.

"Grrrr! How DARE you marry without my permission and to the fox boy too! Neji would not have been this foolish!" he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Actually…"

He slapped his head. "Don't tell me…"

"Yes!" said Naruto, "Neji is with Tenten."

"Tenten!" I expected Sakura. The Haruno clan has good blood. Much better than Tenten's. Neji should have known that!"

Even if he was talking about me and Neji together, his voice did seem a little bit softer.

"Nope," Naruto said. "Sakura and Sasuke are together."

Hiashi went wild. "The traitor? The scapegoat? He doesn't have enough honor to marry a worm, much less a woman of such high rated blood. "

I comforted Sasuke, who was right beside me, but Hiashi wanted to speak as if he wasn't there. Its' kind of rude when you do that, and Hinata's clan usual respects manners, Hiashi must be really out of it.

Maybe because his daughter went against his wishes and ran off to marry a fox monster vessel. That might make a person mad. "Gah! It's like this whole town has gone crazy."

"Anyway, we got to get out of here," Naruto whispered, hoping that he can get out of this dangerous hole where Hiashi had them trapped.

Sasuke grabbed their collars. "Let's leave and he dragged them away from their father who was screaming and throwing a fit.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

I sat on the couch in our dimly lighted home. The television wasn't on, and I was feeling way too tired and lazy to find the remote to turn it on.

So I slumped and sighed, closing my eyes to attempt on deciding if this is a heavenly dream or a nightmare.

Lifting up my extremely heavy head, I noticed the glinting on my finger that I thought I had gotten used to. I was desperately wondering how in the world he manages to find rings, and of such high quality. The emeralds showed that this trinket must have cost a pretty penny. They reminded me that my own eyes were that color, and the band was onyx, the same color of Sasuke's eyes.

Great. Now I was thinking in metaphors.

"Sakura!"

I heard Sasuke's voice from another room.

"What are you doing? I need help with making food!"

In a strained answer, I called back. "Ugh, Alright!"

I hobbled into the kitchen to see him hunched over the stove where a pan was making a large grey cloud."

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, "Sasuke, you're going to make the fire alarm go off!"

In a desperate defendant answer, he yelled back, "I'm not trying to!"

I sprinted over. "Here, let me." I took the sauce pan off the heat. "Sasuke, what do you have?"

"Have of what?" He ignored.

'Food! Dummy! What, like, butter, rice, broth? Stuff like that?"

He looked forlorn that I had called him a dummy, but he regretfully answered, "Um, ramen?"

It figures. "Is that ALL you have?" I said, in an unbelieving tone.

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

I guess Naruto had an influence on Sasuke's food supply. 'Okay, fine. Hand me some."

As I was busy making the ramen, Sasuke started some interesting conversation. "About those rings…"

I stopped stirring. "Oh yeah?" I wish I hadn't because the force of the stirring was keeping the ring on my finger after I had loosened it when I was examining it. As a result, it fell off my finger into the boiling ramen broth. "Ugh," I said, frustrated.

Sasuke had a different reaction. "Ahh!"

He pushed me aside and dunked his hand into the pot full of half-cooked hot ramen and water.

"What are you doing?" I screamed.

"What's it look like? Eating a pretzel?" he said, holding back screams of pain as he searched for the solid object in the pile of soft noodles.

At last he found it, because he pulled out his now red arm from the water, gripping the ring. His scars looked very painful.

"Here, let me help you," I said, His hands dropped the ring because of pain, and it fell to the linoleum with a 'ping'. We just left it there.

I got a washrag and soaked it with cold water and ice cubes. "Go sit down on the couch." I ordered.

I turned on the television to a random show. I think it was that Anaconda movie, or something about snakes. I wasn't sure, I wasn't paying attention. "Hold out your arm." I told him.

He inhaled sharply from the movement, but closed his eyes when I put the cool washrag on his arm. "Now, why did you have to do that?"

He looked at me, his eyebrows slanting into a V. "I don't think you need to know."

I couldn't believe it. "I don't? I'm your **wife**! I need to know everything you know."

Awkward silence.

Thank goodness for a ringing phone. Avoiding the situation, I went to pick it up, leaving Sasuke on the couch stunned.

"Hello?"

"Who am I speaking to?" said an urgent-sounding female voice.

"Sakura." I said, normally.

"Sakura! Thank goodness! We need your help! It's Tenten."

"What's wrong, Tenten?"

"It's my dad. He isn't exactly happy we went off and eloped."

"Well, what's going on?"

"He fainted."

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Its' a crazy day at the Uchiha residence! I wonder what the first night together will be like, Huh? It also looks like Sakura turned the tables on Sasuke, now he's the one who's stunned by the word 'wife'.

Well, have a nice day. I'll have the next chapter ready in no time! (I'm just happy I'm into double digits! It seemed to take so long!) Hehehehhehehe.

Sayonara!

S.A.Hikari


	11. Down for the countthe first night

Boo

Boo.

Sorry it's been so long, I got the new Twilight book, and I'm sure you know how that is, you're reading it nonstop. So am I. Plus, this chapter was hard to do, for some unknown reason… oh well, here's chapter 11.

I don't own Naruto.

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I stood there speechless. "Fainted?"

"You better believe it," she said.

"Well," I said, "Why do you need me? Just wait for him to wake up. Try dumping water on him."

Tenten scoffed on the other line. "Don't you think we've tried that? It's been about a half hour, and my mom's getting worried. I decided to call you, because you are a nurse, right?"

I nodded, even though I knew she wouldn't see. "Right, I think I should get over there. I'm having a little issue with Sasuke at the moment but I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Good," said a relieved Tenten.

And we both hung up without another word. I looked around to Sasuke, whose eyes were wide. He looked concerned. "What's going on?"

I picked up my purse, filled with medical supplies, which was by the door. "Tenten's father fainted."

He was confused. "He fainted?"

Without making eye contact, I responded. "My words exactly, now keep the washrag cold and directly on your arm. DON'T. MOVE. IT. I'll be back soon." I took one last look at him; his eyes were solemn and lonely.

I didn't want to leave at the moment, but I had to.

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I checked his pulse and breathing. "Ah, he's fine," I said in a scoffing tone, "he's just really tired and receiving a well-deserved nap. His heartbeat seems fine, just put him in bed and he'll wake up in a couple hours," I turned to Tenten and Neji, "You can use this opportunity to leave, you've already told him, anyway."

The both nodded quickly… a little too quickly. They were being unusually quiet.

Then I remembered Sasuke with his painful burn. "Well, I got to go. Business to take care of else ware."

And I shot off.

As I was heading home, I spied Kiba and Miho and his mother. They looked just fine, in fact, they were jumping around in little circles singing with Akamaru prancing around them barking. "Uh, good for them," I thought.

I decided to check in on Shikamaru and Temari, but my hopes were shattered when I realized I didn't know where they lived. Seeing Shikamaru's parents and asking them about them could turn out to be disastrous. If they hadn't told them yet, his mom might come crashing down on **me.** I didn't have enough time to search for them, on account that it was getting dark. I looked to be about 6:00 according to the setting sun. It was setting early because of winter. I would call them in the morning.

The morning?

I forgot! This is my first night away from my parent's house as a 'married' girl. What was I going to do?

When I arrived, I took a deep breath and opened the door. Sasuke was still on the couch, keeping the rag on his arm like I had ordered him. The television was off, and the remote beside him. His hair was sticking up on end, his eyes were wide, and his teeth were chattering.

"I-I kept it cold just like you said."

I walked over and looked him over. "This is way past the dose of ice it needed." I took the ice off his arm. It was clear he kept loading the water on, or else it would have gotten warm by now.

I inspected his arm. It was still red, but because of the cold, it became numb. A mixture of hot underneath, and cold on the surface.

"This'll be fine in a few days. Don't move it so much, and try not to burn in again." I caressed it, feeling awfully strange. I looked up at him and… was it my imagination or was he looking bashful? I giggled a little bit, at the thought of Sasuke blushing. He just humped and stared at the black television screen, as if watching a show that only cool people could see.

"I was getting annoyed by the screaming," He said, in his usual pretty boy tone. I had gotten used to dealing with it, though. I picked up the remote and turned it on anyway. Instead of watching the snake movie, I turned to some documentary about the 9 tailed monsters. Naruto said to watch it a couple months ago because he was in it; it was just my luck that it was on again, science I never got around to see it.

I yawned.

Gosh, I was tired. It had been a really long day.

"Maybe you should get some sleep," Sasuke offered.

"Oh no, I know what you're thinking. This is all a contest to you. You're going to brag how you are stronger than me at staying awake!"

He looked at me with genuine concern. "No, I'm thinking you need your sleep. You haven't slept well the past couple days."

I hated to admit it, but he was right.

"My room is upstairs. It's the master bedroom. You can sleep in the room across the hall. Of course, it's not as big, but it's the second largest room in the house."

He got up and went over to the stairs across the room, not turning his head, expecting me to follow him.

I did.

The upstairs were much blander than downstairs. I guess he doesn't like to decorate.

"Right there," he pointed to a door, and he assumed I knew the rest. "It might be best you keep your stuff in my room, just in case we have visitors from outside our mission compadres. Just sleep in that room."

I went inside to examine it. It's not that I've never been in Sasuke's house before, he has just never invited me upstairs, and I understood that. When I walked in the room, I was expecting a sleeping bag, but right there in the corner was a full-fledged queen sized bed, complete with a tidy bed side table and television. It looked similar to a hotel or guest room.

I immediately ran out to thank him, but the door to his room was closed already and there was no light escaping the crevice between the bottom of the door and the floor.

I went back into the room and slept in my day clothes, not receiving what I had been hoping for.

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Soo, wadduya think? Like it? I got sort of inspired by Stephenie Meyer, and I think this writing was some of my top quality, but it's not without its typos. I hope you'll come back for the update!

Sayonara,

S.A. Hikari


	12. Unable to Resist

Drum roll please……

Drum roll please…….. Presenting chapter 12! Get ready to absorb your long awaited and well deserved new chap.

I don't own Naruto…………….. (Waaa.)

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I woke up with hazy eyes. Last night, for some reason, I thought something magical was going to happen. In the back of my subconscious, I thought Sasuke was going to kiss me again, and this time… I wanted it. Well, now that I'm being truthful to myself again, instead of lying, I'll scream it to the heavens! I love Sasuke! I won't deny it… maybe I will, but just to my friends.

I guess I'm in deep crap now.

I looked to the window and a thick blanket of fog covered Konoha. "Oh well," I thought, "nothing I can do to stop it."

Last night was less than desirable. The second half of the night I got wonderful sleep, but the first half I was half awake, half sleeping, all shivering.

I sat up, and noticed a different combination of colors before me. It was a quilt. That quilt wasn't here when I went to bed. Instinctively, I looked to the door. It was open! Through it, I could see Sasuke's door. The light was off and his door was open also. He had put a blanket over me! I didn't know what to think except…

Maybe my love did care for me back.

I heard his voice downstairs. He was talking to somebody, but his was the only voice I heard.

I got up and went downstairs.

Duh! He was on the phone. His back was to me, and I don't think he knew I was there.

"Well, I guess that's important… why my house? … What about Neji's? His is certainly bi… no, well, yes… Fine! Come over at 11, and I'm not calling anybody, so you better… No, I haven't told her yet…. Stop bugging me about it! I know I should!... Food? You know I can't cook… I'll just have Sakura help me out then… goodbye."

He hung up the receiver with a large ring.

"Sasuke?" I murmured to get his attention.

He gasped and spun around. "S-sakura! You're up!" He said, rather nervously.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Mr. obvious. Who was on the phone?" I stated, curious.

"J-just Naruto. He wanted to tell us that the gang is coming over.

"All of them?"

"Yes…" He closed his eyes in regret, I guess for having agreed to this ridicules notion.

I sighed heavy. "Well, what are we going to do now?'

He shrugged. "Maybe we should get your stuff here from your parent's house."

At the mention of my parents, I recalled the event that tool place on the doorstep.

Sasuke had kissed me.

What was with that? I thought he loathed me, but it should have suspected with all that he had done lately.

He turned and started to straiten up the living room.

"Hey Sasuke…"

I wanted to try something.

He cocked his head to acknowledge that he was listening.

"About what happened at the door step…"

I could almost visualize perked up cat ears on his head.

I spoke slowly.  
"That didn't turn out so well… m-maybe we should try it again…"

Instead of answering, he whipped around faster than I could see, and pulled me onto the couch with him.

Seductively, he whispered into my ear. "…maybe indeed…"

Our faces were inches apart. I didn't want to look into his eyes because I was afraid of the feeling it would give off… but his face was so hard, so intense, he was like a Christmas package, unknowing what might be in the charming colored box. It was so tempting.

I got close enough to feel his breath on my sensitive lips.

Carefully, I drew closer, until our lips were barely touching. I spoke, morphing my words onto his mouth.

"_**Kiss me you ding-bat."**_

And boy did he.

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Three hours later, we were all sitting on the couch, me, myself, and I feeling completely satisfied. I watched all the 'couples' all feeling quite awkward, I took a gander at Hinata, sitting quietly, all scrunched up next to Naruto. Her hands were up by her mouth, touching her lips carefully, smudging off her lightly-applied lip-gloss.

I grabbed a cream covered scone (which I had taught Sasuke how to make earlier on in the morning) and proceeded on with thinking how I would hate to be in that position, luckily, I had won over my crush, (well, it was more like he won me over) and feeling pretty good about it, too.

Sasuke was speaking aloud, but in truth, I wasn't listening to what he was saying, though most might think so, because I was unknowingly nodding my head.

I didn't dare look at him, because I might feel over powering pride about this angel-looking man who was now mine, and everybody knows that pride is one of the seven deadly sins.

I was too busy nodding my head to who knows what, and fantasizing about things to come, when my man interrupted me.

He was a great actor.

"Isn't that right, Sakura?" He said.

Those were the only words that he said that I had heard.

His silky words snapped me out of my trance.

He looked at me with a wide eyed confused face. "Sakura?" he said it like I was crazy. "Sakura, are you even listening to me at all?"

"Mmmmm, ummmm" I said, glad that no one here had a jutsu with the power to read minds.

He became discouraged, and expressed undo outburst. "Urg… Fine, I'll spell it out for you." He said, quietly shaming me, but it wasn't like I cared.

"We must infiltrate the 'crazy' Lady Tsunade."

He carved quotations in the air when he said "Crazy"

"Tonight at 9, when the office is closed. Neji will use his byakugan to see if anyone's there. Miho will summon small tigers for us to ride, so our footsteps will be as silent as a cat's. Sakura will invade her desk. The rest of you will search the other rooms for anything else interesting. We'll rendezvous here at 8:30. Wear black. Tonight, we find out what's really up."

But he would have to explain it to me later. I was too distracted.


	13. infiltrating our own leader go figure

Sorry it's been a while since chap

Sorry it's been a while since chap. 12. I was much occupied with my Deviant Art Account, since I just got my own computer; I had the chance to upload a few little pictures I was working on. Anyway, here's chapter 13.

I don't own Naruto.

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"_Byakugan!" _Neji's veins popped and confirmed. "All clear so far. Chunin ninja posted at sector nine, ready to pull the alarm if he spies anything, so be wary."

"Good job." Said Shikamaru, "Me and Temari will head to the files room. Anything in that direction?"

"Danger off turn three. Noxious gasses set to rig." Neji told him. Shikamaru nodded.

"Got it."

The rest of our group, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Miho, and Tenten confirmed their parts in the scheme also.

"Ready…" Shikamaru raised his hand in the air, "dismissed!" And he flung it downwards. We all leaped into action to our designated spots. Me and Sasuke landing by the door leading to the back entrance.

He put his finger to his mouth to indicate silence, and he carefully opened the door. His sleek sharingan eyes raked the inside, until he spotted it. He dug into his weapons pouch and pulled out a single shuriken. With a flick of his wrist, it flew out of his hand and into the door where it connected with the alarm. We were now able to enter without the interruption of an alarm.

Suddenly, I felt a strange feeling in my feet, a lot like it was falling asleep. I looked down, and they were covering with fur. I was startled at first, but Sasuke comforted me.

"Don't worry; it's just Miho's cat's paws jutsu. It's a good thing; we'll be quieter, just take off your sandals." He whispered.

I did as I was told, and already I felt better, like I could run a thousand miles or capture a cheetah.

I noticed Sasuke's feet changing also, but he had already taken his foot wear off. He opened the door fully, and we sneaked inside silently. I could barely hear my own footsteps, only the soft tapping of a fly's feet on the plaster walls.

I knew this place well. As Lady Tsunade's apprentice, it was sort of a requirement.

We continued walking. Suddenly, I remembered something, something secret Tsunade had installed. I stopped walking, but Sasuke didn't notice and continued on walking. My eyes flashed me an image of poison darts… flying in Sasuke's direction. I acted quickly, because I knew it wasn't just a vision.

I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him from behind, so we both went flying backward and smashed into the hall wall, just in time to escape the darts, which flew past each other, and collided causing small splintered to shoot out, barely missing us.

I clenched my eyes shut, and held onto Sasuke, never wanting to let go. No one, especially primitive poison darts, could take him from me now!

I heard a muffled noise. "Muffurfa, fuld fu geft oft fhee anf fuld fu left fhee fo?'

It was Sasuke trying to help me realize what I was doing.

I had him in my arms and his head was buried in my chest. Blushing, I released my grip and let him get up. He hit his shorts, which caused dust, dirt, and wooden splintered to fly off in a small, puffy cloud. He looked up at me, capturing my gaze in his.

"You saved my life!"

Indeed I had, but it really was just a reflex, a reflection of my emotions which told me that nothing could tear him from my side.

I stood up, stabling myself. I was fairly dizzy from my fall, and then the embarrassing position I had Sasuke in.

I continued with walking down the hazardous hall as if nothing had happened, careful with my feet not to step on the broken darts.

When Tsunade's office door came into view, I was ready for it. I didn't want to be in this horrible, embarrassing building any longer than I had to anymore.

I was cautious in examining the floor for trap doors and spike drops, which Tsunade was known for, other than her skills in medicine.

Luckily, there were none.

I guess Tsunade's just a little bit too confident that her other traps had worked.

I smirked.

_Never let your guard down, Sensei, that's what you taught me. _I thought, as if I was speaking to her telepathically.

The door creaked creepily, like it belonged in a haunted house. There were no traps, so we walked directly to her desk without delay.

I tried really hard to make it look discreet, so that when she walked in the next day, but when I looked to Sasuke, he didn't get the clue.

Papers were lying everywhere, open and closed scrolls rolled around the floor, and the hunched over figure of Sasuke was dug deep into a drawer in a dresser on the side of the room

"Sasuke!" I scolded him, "What are you doing, you knucklehead?"

He ignored me, and all of a sudden, his struggling hissifitting body ceased and calmed as he held up a scroll.

"What? What's the matter?" I whispered, concerned.

He remained silent as I approached, so I put my hands on his shoulder and read over him, then my eyes widened and my mouth gaped just like him as I read the paper.

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Naruto sprinted down the dimly lit hall. He ran with his hands trailing behind him, one hand firmly secured around Hinata's.

Hinata's face was panicked. She knew she couldn't run as fast as Naruto. One of her arms was bent up, and her fingers crinkled around her cheek in a gesture of shyness.

"N-Naruto? Slow down!" She said in that quiet voice of hers.

"What, Hinata?" He swiveled around, and accidentally got nose to nose with her.

Her face turned the color of tomatoes and her eyes widened. _Naruto… is right in front of me…_

"Whoh!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise and took a step backwards. "You alright, Hinata?"

Her pupils were substituted by little dizzy swirls.

"Whoa, Hinata, snap out of it!" She shook her head and looked deep into Naruto's cerulean blue eyes.

She felt a sharp pressure in her gut, inhaled sharply, and promptly fell over.

She hit the cold, linoleum floor head, and nearly fractured her spine.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Naruto cried out in concern. As soon as he knew what happened, Naruto sighed.

He kneeled down and checked her pulse.

_Bu-bump…………………………bu-bump…………………………….._

It was slow, but it was still there.

She wasn't breathing. He would have to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

He lifted her chin, plugged her nose, and assumed the position.

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I hope this is long enough for you. I've been working hard on trying to make my chapters longer, but I don't think I reached any goals with this one. I didn't really like it, except for the ending, you know, with the double cliffhangers. I have these really cool ideas coming up, so I hope you continue to read little ol' me.

Sayonara,

S.A.Hikari


	14. Operation Mother and Child

Hello

I beg for you apologies that it took so long. But this was a hard chapter, 'cause I had to explain everything and all, but I think it turned out pretty well, anyway. However, if you do spot some mistakes that don't cooperate with the previous chapters, please inform me, and I will proceed with changing it. Much than-q!

I don't own Naruto.

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**Operation Mother and Child**

Specifics:

All ninja over 18 must marry.

All ninja must have a counselor.

Reasoning:

Since our country's fateful attacks, the level of happiness in our village had plummeted, so I have decided on this. Marriage makes families, counselors make friends. Friends and families make happiness. Hopefully these changes will bring cheer to our ninja and subjects. (Also, their procreation couldn't hurt our population)

Date:

October 12th on

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I stared wide eyed at the form. She wasn't crazy… (Which I already knew, of coarse) she loved us, and wanted us to be successful and happy.

We both sighed heavily. What would we do now? We couldn't ALL stay like this, and what about Ino and Choji? Would they ever be able to come back? The same issue with Temari. Would she ever go back to her family?

"Sasuke… Sakura… I thought I would find you here."

We gasped and looked up. Turning around, we braced ourselves for a surprise.

There, in a darkly lit corner, sitting with her legs crossed was Lady Tsunade herself. I attempted to explain, but I started out with the wrong sentence.

"What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed.

She leaned forward, and stuck out a feminine finger, pointing at us with an evil frown. "I think the question is, what are you doing here?" We stood there, frozen in place, little sweat beads dotting down our face.

I didn't know what to say. She had us cornered like a cat with mice in the corner. "I think you know why I did what I did. Operation mother and child was designed to build optimism and our trust in each other."

Operation mother and child? I think I had heard that phrase somewhere…somewhere recent.

Tsunade noticed my confusion and pointed it out.

"What's the matter Sakura? You have a question?"

I stuttered. "N-no, it's just I think I've heard that phrase before."

Sasuke turned to me. "Really, where?"

Before thinking, I answered. "When I got cap…" I caught myself.

Tsunade perked up. "What? When you got what?"

I tried to help myself. "Oh. Nothing…"

Tsunade sighed. "Don't lie to me, Sakura. Something happened when you were gone? "

Now we were stuck. What was there to say? "Sorry, Tsunade, we went off and got captured by unnamed ninja deliberately to get rid of you stupid rules?" Yeah right.

Should we tell the truth? Luckily, I did not have to make that decision. Sasuke answered it for me. This might not have been that lucky.

"Well, when we were off busy… achem…"

I know why he added in that 'achem' in there; he wanted Tsunade to assume something that wasn't true, so he wouldn't have to lie to her face. In this case, that we were getting married, and doing what married couples do… like washing laundry.

"Sakura got kidnapped by some ninja from the land of Air using a jutsu I had never witnessed before; it was called _Mystic Hypnotism Jutsu." _He smiled though, and tapped his temples. "Luckily, I have a Kekkei Genkai in my favor, and I am able to re-create it.'

Tsunade waved her finger at us. "Oh, no you don't. I don't want a jutsu with the word hypnotism presented to me ever."

"Oh well, then" Sasuke shrugged. His plan had failed, and he would have to trust Tsunade with the secret of my kidnapping.

"I am glad you told me about this, though. Sakura, what did they say when you were captured?"

I thought back to it. "Well, they had put a blind fold on me, but I distinctly remember the salty scent of the ocean, and the seagulls were squawking.

They said then that I was to shut up and oblige. There were two men there; one looked a little bit older than the other, but he left before Sasuke was able to rescue me."

"Yeah," said Sasuke, "When Sakura was hypnotized and was under his control, he said that if the 5th Hokage ever wanted to see her apprentice again, you would stop operation Mother and Child immediately." Tsunade touched her lips.

"Yeah, this is bad; it was supposed to be a secret from other villages until further notice. Go, go home, tell the rest of your posse that I discovered you, but am on your side. Tell them not to ask any questions. You don't answer any questions. Also, tell them that I will send my chunin to their houses to set up cameras in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen. I need to know you are safe, but I respect your privacy and will not put them in any other rooms. "

I leaned over to Sasuke and whispered, _"Things just keep getting stranger…"_

"What did you say?" she said.

"Um, yes Lady Tsunade," I saluted, like a good apprentice should.

"I'll see ya later," then she smiled.

We walked out of the door confused, but satisfied.

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_He assumed the position. _

Naruto closed his eyes, embarrassed, and took a deep breath. He opened her mouth, and using his, formed a tight seal. He blew, giving her suffocating body oxygen. He felt as if he were losing it, though, with his blushing face turning even brighter.

All of a sudden, Hinata's eyes shot open. She seemed to be fully aware of what was happening. She held out her arms and hugged Naruto's head closer to her. Naruto didn't object. They destroyed the open O position and made out quietly, until Naruto could figure out what was going on.

He stopped and backed away. "Hi- Hinata! What the heck? What are you doing?"

Her impulsive state dissipated and she just sat on the floor, fiddling with her fingers and avoiding Naruto's gaze. "I-I'm sorry Naruto, I just, just, didn't know what was happening and I assumed something. My reflexes took over, I…"

Naruto quickly recovered then, and cracked up, laughing.

Hinata, needless to say, was surprised. "N- Naruto? What's' funny?" she asked in her still small voice.

"You know what they say," he said, still laughing his head off.

Hinata just cocked her head, curious.

"Watch out for the honest and shy ones more than the mischievous ones."

"Why?" she inquired.

"Because you know the mischievous ones will try and trick you, but you have no idea what the quiet ones are going to do."

It was so true, like expect it when you least expect it.

Hinata closed her eyes, amused by her boy, but little did he know that she had done it all on purpose.

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So did you like this chapter, love it? Hate it? I accept constructive criticism, but flames are too hard to handle. You also may have noticed that the update rate is getting a little slower than it was during the summer. It's the oldest excuse in the book, but school is a big responsibility. I sure it is for you, too. Don't worry, I'm not going to stop until It's done, just thought I'd give you a heads up. On a side note, an estimated three chapters are left, but I don't know for sure, maybe even many more than that, if my story evolves any further.

Sayonara, until next time,

S.A.Hikari


	15. Confusion and Realization

READ THIS!

Hohum. I've been kinda deppressed lately. Tell me, do you guys honestly read this? I don't want to be writing something that people will just brush off. Since my computer broke, it seems like less and less of you are leaving a reply. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate every single one of them, I'm just concerned with those who don't. Is it that they don't like it? Please tell me what's to be fixed! I'm begging you! But hears another chap… I guess. It's much shorter that the previous ones, mainly because I'm taking Creative Writing and I've switched from a separate book to writing installments in the journal we are required to have, and it seems to have cut down on that. I apologize in advance.

I don't own Naruto

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We ambled out of the building with black looks on our faces. Our feet had just returned to normal, and since we had no stealth, or any need for it, now that the Hokage knew we were here, the noises our steps made seemed painfully louder than usual.

The tapping echoed through the dark midnight halls. I could just hear my questions, being spoken back to me as I walked.

_Will you stay with Sasuke?_

_Will you stop Tsunade's plan anyway? _

_How will you do it, if possible? _

_Are you that heartless, to tear her dreams down? _

"Hey, Sakura, you okay?" Sasuke interrupted my inner ramblings.

I spoke blandly. "No, no I'm not."

"Hey," he smiled and put an arm around my shoulder, "its okay and we'll work something out."

I sighed heavily enough for out entire infiltration to hear.

_Bobolip. _The sound of walkie talkies greeted the empty air.

"Shikamaru, this is Sasuke. Pick up, over."

_Bebulip_. "Go for Shikamaru, over."

I recognized his voice.

_Bebulip. _"Objective has been reached. Contact others to retreat the premises, over."

_What objective…_ I thought.

_Bebulip. _ "Yeah, good job Sasuke. Talk to ya later, over."

_Bebulip. _"Oh, and Shikamaru?"

They dropped the overs.

_Bebulip_. "Yeah?"

_Bebulip. _"Assemble at my house. We have something to discuss."

_Bebulip_. "Sure thing. Over and out."

Even after their conversation had ended, Sasuke looked at the Walkie Talkie speaker. His eyes were half closed.

"Sasuke…" I murmured, "Is something the matter?"

He sighed, but kept his eyes fixed on the speaker. "No, I was just thinking about what Tsunade said."

I didn't understand. "She said a lot of things, Sasuke."

He looked at me. "Yeah, well I know but she also talks about putting cameras in our bedrooms."

I think I knew where he was going with this. I gasped. "You mean…"

He cut me off. "Yeah, I didn't want to do it, just to keep your privacy, but we still need to keep our secret. She thinks we are married. We have to keep it that way, don't we?'

Someway, somehow, I knew that this would happen… the moment I looked into the ring.

I shrugged. I didn't want to show it, but I was freaking out. "So what?"

I looked up and saw his face. One eyebrow was three inches higher that the other and a twisted expression possessed his mouth.

"Are you kidding? This, I would say, is a big deal!" It had been a while since Sasuke yelled at me. I felt convicted about it, and a weight sat hard on my shoulders.

Suddenly, a huge laugh erupted into the hallway. "Bwhahahahaha!" It didn't sound malevolent, in fact, it seemed quite benign, but the fact that someone was in this hallway alone made me paranoid.

Sasuke froze, but pulled out a kunai. He stalked forward until I couldn't see him, but I heard his voice. "You guys…"

It didn't sound as if he were facing an enemy but rather as if he were talking to a best friend, in sort of annoyance.

To clarify my confusion, I walked there, my hand stretched at in front of me to make sure I wasn't going to bump into anything. The light illuminated three figures as walked. One standing up, hands in pockets, one rolling on the floor in laughter, one kneeling on the floor next to the roller.

I walked up next to Sasuke. "What's wrong with you?" I asked Naruto.

Wiping humor induced tears from his eyes, he replied. "Oh, nothing.."

"What's nothing?" I asked.

"It's okay," Sasuke said, "We don't need to know. It's their business."

I guess that made sense, but what I didn't get was what 'their' about? They had never been a couple, on account Naruto is a surefire dunderhead who's too stupid to notice Hinata. Did Hinata make her move, or did living in the same house finally let Naruto understand? As far as I was concerned, it was a mystery.

"Anyway," Sasuke said, monotone again, and he waved his hand, "it's time to go. You don't have to walk quietly. Tsunade knows we are here."

Naruto stopped laughing. "What?"

Sasuke hushed him. "Don't' ask any questions…." His voice grew quieter, "until we're out of here,"

Naruto shrugged and he walked out of the office in a group.

We met up with Shikamaru in the front lawn, but he said to go back to our house and he would direct the rest of them in the right direction.

"Be careful…" he said. "Watch your back."

----

We reached our house with an eerie ominince. "Wo how!" Naruto muttered, "Does that look like Halloween or what?"

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Hope you enjoyed this update. _**I'M NOT DEAD!!!!**_ NaNoWriMo is this month, so all my writing points have gone into that basket. I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway!


	16. Major Embarassment here!

Hi! It's me again, S., and I just want to say how absolutely wonderful all of you are! It was amazing! I didn't think that this story was all that impressive, but you guys really like it! I feel like dancing. It made me so happy to read all of your notes, I was glowing! (Not literally of coarse, or else that would be a little weird) But one thing's for sure, I'm inspired to make the ending of this story the best of my ability!

I don't own Naruto

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We sat on the couch, awfully quiet, awaiting some sort of news. Naruto seemed unusually chipper, and even Hinata seemed to be smiling.

"Gosh, you guys, why the long faces?" I said, sarcastically.

"I don't know what you mean, Sakura. I am happy! Hinata is really cute, dontcha think?"

Clearly he doesn't grasp the concept of 'sarcasm'

I shrugged, and looked over to Sasuke. His eyes were glazed over and his long muscle-trimmed arm ran around the edge of the sofa behind him. The strait face he wore stared blankly to the black wide-screen television.

And so was preserved the silence, that is, until the long-awaited knock came on the door.

It was almost as if Sasuke was spring-loaded, for he hopped right out of his seat and answered the door. If I wasn't sane, I would ask him why he was in shock.

There was Shikamaru, his usual bland face burned holes in my head. "Yo, guys."

Behind him were Kiba, Miho, Neji, and Tenten. "So what's the news?"

Sasuke broke the eye connection and looked the ceiling. He brought his hand to his head and scratched it, in a gesture I know as, the befuddle, "uh, I'm not sure you wanna know…"

"Uh oh…" Our attention was captured by Neji, "that can't be good."

I closed by eyes and let out a forced laugh. It was almost funny. "Ha-ha…" and sighed. It was just too ironic.

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Shikamaru dropped his head into his hands, "Now that's just great."

Sasuke folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Joy."

We had discussed everything Tsunade said, and it was finally beginning to sink in, the meaning of what she meant by 'cameras'.

The couples in the room, and the non-couples, who never thought they'd end up like this, were all blushing. I thought I even spotted Sasuke's lips pursing and his cheeks turning a faint shade of red.

I spied Miho clinging to Kiba's chest. It looked like she could care less. Kiba was caressing her hair, petting her like one might a cat. Well…

"What do we do now?" asked Tenten, directed at Sasuke, who, apparently, became the leader of our group without even knowing. I could just sense Naruto's jealousy.

Sasuke nodded at pasted on a serious look. "We will wait. Wait until Tsunade's Chunin arrive, and then we will wait until I can come up with a plan. Hopefully everything will unfold smoothly afterwards. Got it?"

We all nodded. I understood… for once.

"Just do what Tsunade told us about. Conserve the secret, Kapish?"

_**…gulp…**_

That ominous sound signaled the Ides of March.

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I stared at the little black device hanging in the upper right corner of Sasuke's room. I couldn't help swallowing the built up spittle that had wallowed in my mouth since I entered that room.

"Sakura!" I heard Sasuke calling me from the hall.

I walked out, not expecting anything, but if I've learned anything from living like this for the past couple days; it's that I have to expect the unexpected. Too bad I wasn't thinking.

Once I walked out I didn't see him anywhere. "Sasuke!" I called, "Sasuke, what did you need?"

Suddenly, strong arms grabbed my shoulders from behind, and pulled me backwards. I stumbled and shrieked. "Ack!"

"Sakura! Shush!" A perfectly carved finger rested itself on my lips, "be quiet,"

He removed his finger, but the sensation of his it's tip touching me remained.

I began scolding him with a simple question. "Sasuke, why are we in the closet?!"

He looked at me intensely. "What did I just tell you?" His body was so close to mine, the body heat he let off transferred to mine.

I shrugged, but obliged.

"This is basically one of the only places we can be without a camera picking up our sounds. Now listen. I want you to be absolutely silent when we enter my room, okay? I will enter behind you, and slip into the bed. I repeat, DO NOT LOOK AT ME."

I was so tempted to ask why, but you don't ask Sasuke why about anything. It's an implied rule.

He opened the closet door and stole out, heading in the direction of the accursed watched room. He swung his head, as if looking for someone around the corner, then beckoned me out, "Come on, Sakura!" He whispered… loudly.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out, and walked with me to the… gulp… bedroom.

He let go of my hand and I blushed. He entered the room, not even bothering to get in his pajamas, (I'm not even sure he wears pajamas. For all I know, he sleeps in the nude… 0_0 which is actually a possibility.) And tucked into his covers.

I snuck into the room, and I quickly realized… I've never been in there before. There was one window on the far side of the wall, but it was small and had a dark blue curtain draping across the bar, and blocking all light from the moon. The paint was such a dark blue, it could have been black, but I wasn't paying attention. It was such a sad room, nothing in it but the bed, a dresser, and a television resting on top of it.

Just like he said, I didn't look at him, and I didn't feel his eyes on me, as I got under the cover. I made a point to sleep over the sheet, in a way that he would sleep touching the mattress, and we could never make any sort of contact, but it sure looked convincing. The door shut on its own, which I thought weird, until I noticed there was a small black box on the hinge, it was remote controlled.

Sasuke.

We lay there in the dark for several minuets, and I'm sure we both could sense each other's tension. My eyes were wide open. I was scared, if you can believe that or not. Not because of Sasuke, but because this room was so cold, and it reflected his life.

I thought about the others, what they might be doing, and what the heck we had gotten ourselves into. Then I realized, if we hadn't done this, things would have gotten a lot worse.

I pondered the thought for a while, until it slowly morphed into the unknown possibility. What if… Sasuke and I were actually married? We could all gather with our friends, and have holidays together. Christmas, Naruto and Hinata could visit, and… open… presets… together… and… our… kids……..

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Ha-ha! Another chapter! Let's all rejoice! I'm back! I love you all! Didja like this chapter? Please tell me! It's much appreciated.

Gosh, you should have seen the hustle and excitement of the new twilight movie. A lot of people went to see it at midnight last night. They all loved it. I'M A DIE-HARD FAN!!! I can't wait to see it, but I digress.

Not-so-sincerely,

S.


	17. Things start getting dangerous

Hey guys! I'm at 200 reviews! Wow! You must really like this story. Guess what? I'm in Forks right now! Well, just outside of it, but I went to look, and they have souvenir shops and everything. I think it is so relaxing… but a word of advice for those looking for adventure, don't come if you think there's anything here, 'because there isn't. It's just a great place to relax…. Just don't feed the wild-life… you could get bitten. Tee hee.

I don't own Naruto.

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My eyes shot open.

Where was I? What happened last night? I remember Tsunade and Operation Mother and Child…

Oh Gosh.

I tried to move, but stopped when I realized something was around me… someone was holding me. His strong arms held me close to his warm chest, although the sheet was between us, my stomach still felt uneasy and I felt pressure in my heart.

I couldn't help but smile, until, my face turned as red as a tomato. "Uh…"

But he moved, and turned over.

I fumbled and, making a lot of noise I might add, sat up, and held a blanket over my chest. To my extreme relief, I still had my pajamas on. I breathed deep.

I looked around, and the sunlight was making a blue essence through the curtains. It was easily morning.

Sasuke's form twitched. "Ugh… Sakura?"

My cheeks that of pikachu's cheek color. And they just kept getting redder. The comforter was still bunching up near my chin. My eyebrows itched, and I squirmed. 'Uh… '

He turned, and saw me. To my surprise, his eyes softened and he gazed at me, and a smile emerged on his lips.

"Ah, such a dream. It's nice to see you Sakura."

I was slightly confused. "What dream?"

He looked at me with a face that could explain, 'DUH!'

"Why this one of coa…" His face froze, and I watched the reality wash over his face like a bucket of cold water. He slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Gah!"

He fumbled, and moved his hands all over, like one might inspect for any broken bones.

"Don't worry," I said, rather annoyed, "our clothes are on."

His thought cleared with a loud "achem!" and he turned away from me.

I swear I thought I saw a little blushing there on his cheek.

Without saying another word, I got up, not bothering to set up any sheets.

It's Sasuke's bed. He can do with it what he likes.

Only now do I think how weird that thought sounded.

My bare feet made a small creaking on the hard wood floor as I left the room, feeling totally embarrassed, but with a sense of dignity, for have leaving the room.

_**Knock knock**_

At that point, the only thing I was thinking was "who the heck even bothers to visit someone this early in the morning. I yawned, stretched, and pulled my shirt down farther past my waist as to not show any skin.

_**Knock Knock! **_

It began to sound urgent. In a frustrated growl, I blurted out. "Keep yur pants on; I'm comin'!"

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!!!!!**

"Okay," I was thinking, "This person was just impatient.

I scrambled down the stairs. I had just woken up, so my legs were a little iffy, but after one or two trips I made it to the door.

My attitude was less than polite.

I opened it furiously, and not caring to see who it was, scolded, "Yeah, yeah, wadduya want?"

I recognized that distinctive solemn face and Chunin vest.

"Oh, hey pineapple-head."

Shikamaru was less than amused, "We need to speak."

I yawned again, but while I was talking. "Oh, ya-yawn-eh, okay…"

I saw Temari poking her head and fan out from behind Shikamaru. Her cheeks were red and her hands were balled up into fists.

"What's with her?" I asked, rather bluntly.

Shikamaru nodded. "That's what we need to talk about, now where's Sasuke?"

I pointed my thumb behind me and rolled my eyes. "He's still up in the be..."

"Shut it, Sakura, I'm right here."

That tone…

All of a sudden, I was reminded of a few things.

_Flashback… _

"_Keep your paws off my wife…"_

_It was my _surprise_ when he grabbed my cheeks and brought me close to his face. Seductively, he uttered "Be truthful when you answer this: do you mind this?"_

_Kiss me you ding-bat_

_End Flashback_

**GAH**

Could things get any weirder?

Shikamaru pushed past me into the living room uttering, "stop goggling, Pinky."

I humphed and called "I resent that!"

Temari, like and obedient dog, followed. That reminded me of the time I followed Sasuke home after we went to my –gulp- parents house.

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Wouldn't cha know it, here we all were again, In Sasuke's house, only this time, the only people who didn't look scared out of their minds, (Neji and Tenten) or fruitfully embarrassed, (Me and Sasuke) just plain fainting, (Naruto and Hinata) or completely out of wits (Shikamaru and Temari) were… drum roll please… Kiba and Miho.

You could almost visualize them on cloud nine.

Miho was bubbling like a hot spring and Kiba looked as proud as a bunch of lions. He had a banana and was dangling it over Miho's mouth, occasionally allowing her a bite.

I looked to Sasuke. He was fiddling with a pen, occasionally tapping on the table.

It was Morse code!

"They… are… watching… us… Get… outside… now!"

I promptly stood up and left.

"Hey, where's she going?" pondered Naruto.

I heard Sasuke answer, "To the um… Grocery Store! We ran out of ramen."

Everyone else got up and left, Naruto, not wanting to feel left out, followed.

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We didn't stop. Shikamaru was talking, "Um, things got really weird last night… I mean me and Temari? In the same room.. Cough… hehe. Let's just say things… were awkward."

Naruto decided to tell his story. "Tell me about it! I just got into bed, and Hinata stood there, almost shivering on the side. I was like saying, 'Hinata, come on!' and right before she collapsed on the floor, I caught her and put her beside me. She kept waking up and falling back into a faint-like sleep all night!"

Hinata just played with her fingernails. "He, Naruto…k… s….d…. uh."

As we were walking, Sasuke caught up with me. "Good job," He said, "I didn't think you would catch that."

I turned away. That seemed kind of rude. "Well, I did. I'm not stupid."

He looked surprised, "I never said you were."

"Might as well shoulda.'

"What?"

"Face it; you don't think I'm smart."

"Of course I…"

"You just contradicted yourself. You said you thought I couldn't interpret Morse code."

"Now you're just being silly."

"Who's being silly?!"

At that moment, Neji and Tenten approached us, "Hey, hey, cool it!" cooed Tenten.

Neji grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, "Dude, calm down."

I noticed Sasuke's arms were shaking. He had a horrible scowl aimed at me, but managed to look away.

I hadn't thought about how hard this might be for him. He was so used to unleashing his anger; I felt a pang of pity. I might have triggered his curse mark, and that disaster would be my fault.

I turned away. "Sasuke I…"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Neji let go. "Its okay, Sakura; you don't have to apologize."

"Still… I'm sorry. I brought up things I shouldn't have."

His eyes looked at me. So intent and full of remorse. "Sakura, you…"

BBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

A huge alarm doused our conversation. It echoed through the alleys, it rang into the sky. I remembered Tsunade's voice advising me on something.

_Whenever you hear an alarm through the village it means we are under attack. You must gather at once._

"Sasuke!" I screamed, "We're under fire!"

"What?"

Kiba, Miho, Temari, Shikamaru, Tenten, Neji, Hinata, and Naruto stared at me.

"Kunai!" A voice, I'm not sure whose, pierced through the alarm.

I looked up. A shower of throwing knives and shuriken was headed strait for us, but we jumped out of the way just in time. I looked up, my green eyes filled with rage.

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So yeah, here's chapter 17. I tried to integrate other parings in there, but I failed and I think I'll just try and work on that in these last couple chapters. This one is the longest one I've ever written, but I don't think that means it's the most nicely written; personally I think it's kinda sloppy.

I hoped you liked it anyway! ^^

Not-so-sincerely,

S.A Hikari


	18. ladies and gentlemen, the truth

Hello there. It's me again, S.. I have nothing to say except for that here's your long awaited chapter 18.

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We jumped into action. In seconds ninja were upon us. Their forehead protectors seemed familiar… they looked like some sort of French moustache or a kid's drawing of a bird.

I heard a ninja scream behind me, "_Mystic Hypnotism jutsu!"_

Oh crap.

I felt a large presence around me. "Sakura!" I heard Miho yell. I turned around cautiously. To my relief, it wasn't dander, but **Kuna-Kena**!

His large teeth were curled into a snarl, "You better move, Cherry Blossom."

By his gigantic paws was a foreign ninja. He was struggling to get up. He wore the same type of clothes that the ninja from the **land of sky**…

That was it!

"Sasuke!" I screamed.

"Whaat?"

He was in a battle. His voice sounded strained, but almost as if I was in the way or something.

"These are the ninja who kidnapped me!"

"What?!" He repeated it again, not out of wonder, or because he couldn't hear me, but out of surprise.

He started fighting faster and with vigor. He punched his opponent in the face, and as he fell, kicked his chest so he slid back and slammed against a building wall.

He looked up; his head seemed loose and was dazed. Sasuke walked up to him, sharingan in his eyes.

"Leave him, Sasuke. He's done."

I could see the rage in his face, the utter anger deep within his heart.

I heard a war cry behind me and I swiveled. A hard barracks made by my friends held an army out of the inner section of Konoha.

"Rising Twin Dragons!" Tenten's weapons took down half of the wave with relative ease, but one caught a mini-scythe and flung it back at her like a boomerang. It collided with her right shoulder.

'Tenten!" Neji's pained cry echoed. He ran to her and grabbed her close. He picked her up bridal style, and with Byakugan rotated all up close ninja to kingdom come.

"Canine style! Fang over Fang!"

"Feline style, swift 1000 claws."

The perfect pair made a perfect team, too. They took out countless ninja together.

"Original technique! Four-headed beast!"

This was one I hadn't seen before. Kiba and Akamaru turned into two heads of a wolf. Miho and Kuna-Kena turned into two tiger heads, but here's the thing… they were _attached to the same body!_

That thing was a furry giant of fury.

It whooshed past us, and Tenten's identical ring fell off her finger.

It smashed to the ground, broke into pieces and dissolved into thin air.

I heard Sasuke inhale sharply.

I ran to Temari and pulled off her ring to throw it on the ground aside her pleas. Sure enough, it disappeared.

I went to find Hinata; Sasuke followed me close behind, but slowly.

"Hinata," I said slowly, "Throw down the ring."

She looked surprised. "What?"

"I… just… need to see something."

But she wouldn't. She held onto her precious emerald, grasping it with a fist.

Frustrated, I yanked mine off, which hurt by the way, and as fast as I could, slammed it to the concrete below.

It fell with a small 'ping' but stayed solid.

I stood there, stunned. What. The. Heck?

Hinata looked at me with a curious look in her eyes. "Sakura, you okay?"

"No, no, it's just… all the others… dissa…"

"Peard?" Sasuke finished my thought, "I hope you'll allow me to explain."

"Explain what?"

"Your ring… was the only one that was real. The rest were just copies."

And Hinata's ring vanished into thin air.

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I stuttered. "I… I'm not sure I understand."

He sighed. "All the rings were fakes, except for yours."

"No, I got that part, dummy. I just don't know… how."

He picked up my ring and rolled it through his sculpted hands. "It was a copy jutsu. I used it so we could all benefit from just one ring."

I folded my arms, "And why didn't you tell me this?"

He looked at me with eyes to skin a boar, and turned around. "Because it wasn't meant to be like this."

One eyebrow rose above my other, and I cocked my head. "Whahuh?"

His back stated to quiver and his head drooped a little bit. "This ring… was yours. Yours and yours only. I… I bought it several months ago. For you…. And… for me."

I exhaled. My eyes were fixated on his back. "Oh… Sasuke."

He walked away to join in the battle.

I went in the other direction. The fight continued.

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The four-headed beast must have knocked out 80 ninja. Kiba, Akamaru, Miho, and Kuna-Kena were completely in tune with each other. Even just Miho's heart affected each of the souls in that one body. I don't think a single one of those knock-outs were deaths.

After I healed Tenten's wounds, I surveyed the landscape. Unnamed ninja lay unconscious on the ground. A few scarce ninja were battle ling the others, but were soon overwhelmed and they gave up.

The four-headed beast turned into four single beings again.

Miho set her hands on her knees as she panted. Kiba fell on the ground next to a tired, yawning Akamaru. Kuna-Kena, with Miho's permission, disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I forced a smile.

"Sakura!" I heard my sensei call my name, and saw all the others take their partner's smile… except for Sasuke.

Tsunade approached me and gave me a hug. "Congratulations, Sakura, we won!"

Won? I didn't get it… it seemed way too easy. I was pretty sure this was…

"Hey, sensei…"

She looked at me. "Hm?"

"Now we can commence Operation Embedded in Stone now, huh?"

"Well, um," Ha. Now I got her.

"There… well… sure."

I pulled out a kunai and poised it against her neck. "Yea, right, faker. We don't have an operation Embedded in Stone."

The Tsunade disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared as…

He looked rather familiar, and his voice was distinct.

"You!" I gasped. It was the elder, the very same who commanded me kidnapped.

"Why are you threatening me?"

He sounded mad, furious even.

"I am Sakura, apprentice of the 5th Hokage."

The man's eyes widened. "You, you were…"

"Too late."

Using charka control, I twisted his arm and bounded his hands with it. I nodded to the rest of my friends, and then took him into custody.

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I hope you enjoyed this! I'm not dead! And I'm sorry for the totally clear occness in the middle there. It's supposed to be emotional.

Not so sincerely,

S.


	19. The Final Decision

Well, here's chapter 19. This is the official last chapter besides the epilogue, but it's sort of short. I hope you like it!

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Tsunade's booming voice was easy for everyone to hear under the mike. "In order to restore faith in our government, and alliance with our former friends, the village hidden in the wind, I have decided to renounce the three most recent laws."

A chorus of delighted people cried out.

"Those who have been forced to be wed, you are welcome to separte without any record, also, if you want to stay together, you may do so and official be dubbed man and wife. Please consult the village council with your decision by the end of November. Thank you."

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After the ruffle of people who wanted to speak to Tsunade after her conference, I got my chance to talk to her.

"Tsunade…?"

She looked at me with sympathy, "No need to apologize, dear. I understand why you kept this a secret from me. I was too blinded by confusion to really understand what our village needed. Really, I should be thanking you."

I shook my head. "It's not that…"

She had a wondering look on her face, "It's just…."

I heaved a large sigh, "why did the land of sky kidnap me and attack us?"

She turned around and, I thought I spied tears in her eyes. "They were concerned, Sakura. They knew it was something I don't normally do. I guess age is catching up with me, the old cook. However, I did detect a sense of hostility in them. They felt threatened. I think they were afraid of what our village would become if this stupid plan was allowed to continue."

That made sense, I guess, but then I thought of something… "That man who had me in custody who Sasuke…," I shuddered… "Killed."

Tsunade sensed my remorse. "Sakura, you can't blame yourself for what happened, and don't blame Sasuke either."

I looked up, and I felt tears behind my eyes.

"It was nobody's fault. Yes, it was an unfortunate accident, but there was no blame here. It just happened to be the cause of events."

I nodded, keeping my eyes separated from hers. She gave me a charming smile and said, "Don't beat yourself up about it."

I felt better after that, and decided to go. On my way out I stopped. Which way was I going? In one direction was my house the other… Sasuke's. I shoved my hands into my pockets and turned around to see how the others were.

_Knock knock. _"Hey Naruto!" I called.

He answered the door. His eyes were shut tight, in a way that they sometimes are. "Yo, Sakura, how's it going?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering how you are doing."

He smiled. "He he! We're doing great. Hinata and I just sat down for some snack food. You want some?"

I felt honored to be invited, so I nodded and walked in.

I saw Hinata sitting on the couch and what appeared to be either tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or beef-flavored ramen.

It wasn't hard t o guess. "Oh, he-hello Sakura. How are you?"

"Fine, Hinata, just fine." I hated it, because I thought I sounded rude, "I was just wondering what your guy's decision about what Tsunade said was."

Hinata blushed and kept her words to herself, but Naruto scratched his cheek. "I think we decided to be achem unmarried for the time being, but we'll just be seeing each other for a while and see how it goes."

That seemed unusually wise… for Naruto at least.

"Well, I only stopped by to see how you were deciding things, so I guess I'll be going."

Naruto tried to stop me. "But don't you want some ramen or cookies or something?"

Turning around I shook my head and left.

I journeys to the other's houses. Shikamaru and Temari, Neji and Tenten, had both decided the same thing as Naruto. It became clear that throughout this whole fiasco, they really developed feelings for each other, especially when I walked into Neji's house and they were making out… yelch. Something I never thought I would see…

The thing that wasn't surprising was my enterprise with Kiba and Miho. They decided to actually get married. Go figure. The last guy we ever thought would get a girl is marrying before any of us. Kiba bought an actual ring after we told him why Miho's ring disappeared. He popped the question soon after.

I walked around with my hands holding each other. My mind was conflicted, one way pulling against the other. Our friends seemed to know what they were going to do, and looked very confident about it, too.

Then my mind wandered to Sasuke… and his face when he told me that ring was an engagement ring that he was going to pro… _gulp_ … prose with. My brain didn't even want to think about that word.

But, as far as I knew, Sasuke cared and if he had an engagement ring that means… he… loves… me?

He loves me?

He loves me!

I turned determination and tears of joy in my eyes. I slapped my feet to the pavement, as if angry that I hadn't realized it sooner.

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_Knock knock_

Sasuke heaved a sad sigh and thought, "I have to get up…"

But he didn't want to. He didn't know who was at the door, but he didn't want any more misery.

The ring lay on the coffee table reflecting a little light.

_Knock knock knock _

"Urg," he said, "I'm here, I'm comin'!"

He threw himself off the couch and shuffled to the door. Sasuke opened it, not bothering to see who it was.

There I was, my eyes shining, face turning red. A large smile illuminated his dark house.

His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

"Sakura… what are you doing here? I thought you… I mean… we…"

I let his voice trail off, I just stared at him seductively, my eyes half closed and a small smirk.

We stood there in silence for a few valuable moments, not one of them awkward until I said four little words enough to change one's life.

"Sasuke, I love you."

His face softened, and he looked at me with lust. "Come 'ere."

He grabbed my shoulders and dragged me threw the doorway to an affectionate kiss. He hugged my head closer to his, and, with one hand on the small of my back, whispered a word through my lips.

"_**Ditto."**_

He swept me off my feet, not one second letting go of my lips as he shut the door with his foot and carried me upstairs.

The ring lay untouched, gleaming on the table.

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Well, there you have it. The finale. I want to thank all of you for sticking with me through the hardships of this story, and the times when it seemed like it would never end. I've got something special planned for the epilogue, so merry Christmas, my wonderful readers. And this is S., signing off.


	20. Epilouge aka, The End

Hi there, It's me again, Hikari! (Because _insists _on cutting off most of my name.) I hope you guys had a nice Christmas, and a Happy New Year! This is the final installment of Let's Play Pretend. T^T. _sniff_. It's really short because it's an epilogue, and not an actual chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

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The young child raised his hand eagerly. His brown hair went down past his face. "Oooh! Ooh! Auntie Sakura? What happened next?"

The 24 year old giggled to herself. "You don't need to know just yet."

A chorus of disappointed moans came next from the four children.

"What happened to the wing?" asked three year old Mika, whose brunette hair resembled that of Tenten's.

"Yah," said Shu, "Tell me!"

"Oh, the ring?" Sakura said, rolling her eyes, "its right here."

She held out her hand, and there was the emerald on the classic onyx band. "Now go play, Sakura's tired." She leaned on the pillar of the dance hall, and rested her ring hand on her bulging belly as the four kids ran off to the floor where her friends were spending the evening. The spot light, however, was on the bride and groom. Sakura recalled, that, just hours ago, when Hinata revealed her dress, it had been Naruto's turn to faint. She smiled at the happy memory.

There was Neji and Tenten. Their two kids, Mika and Yoshino, were already bouncy little 3 year olds.

Shikamaru and Temari married a year ago. They have yet to conceive, but you can sense their connection whenever they look at each other. You can't help but go "auuu!"

Kiba and Miho had a daughter named Yuki. She was the oldest of the new generation, and didn't hesitate to take the handlebars of life.

Of course, Naruto and Hinata was the star of the show, because they were getting married. They didn't have any children yet, but Naruto was head over heels in love.

Sakura leaned farther back, her neck now exposed. Her son, Shu, was busy playing around with Yuki, Mika, and Yoshino.

"Beautiful…"

Sakura jumped. She looked around, but it was Sasuke at her side. She took a deep breath. "I think you would know better than to surprise a pregnant woman."

He just smiled, his eyes hidden behind his dark hair. "Whoever said I was talking to you?"

Sakura cocked her head.

"Isn't your mother beautiful?"

She smiled and scooched closer to Sasuke.

He bent his neck down, and kissed her. Once separated, Sakura rested her head upon Sasuke's shoulder and sighed.

"You know what?" She said, softly.

"Hm…" Sasuke asked.

"I don't think anything could ever get better than this."

The sun stooped farther down behind Konoha's hills, the new face of Hokage Mountain, looking over its town with loyalty and devotion.

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Wahhhhhhhh! Only two pages! But…… beautiful... don't you think? I hope you enjoyed Let's Play Pretend! This story was only 20 chapters long, because it was my first big story, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't biting off more than I could chew.

Be sure to check my profiles up and Coming column for new multi-chapter stories coming your way from Hikari! Once again, thanks.

Quite sincerely this time,

**_S._**


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